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by jpowell » Thu Jul 19, 2012 10:08 pm
[quote="custerdome"]Tim Ferriss' book ... fruit has nothing to offer nutritionally
This suggestion makes me feel some doubt as to whether Tim Ferriss' book has much to offer nutritionally. Fruits not only contain the best quality of Vitamin C and some useful trace minerals, but many fruits are famously good sources of a range of useful antioxidants. So are spices and herbs, and even many vegetables, by the way, but there is probably some legitimate value in variety!
[quote="custerdome"]As someone who needs to lose 20 lbs ... Would it be wise to ... focus on vegetables and legumes
In my opinion, absolutely yes, but include a range of fruit, in sensible quantities, e.g. "an apple a day", rather than a couple of litres of apple juice a day. And focus on the quality: rich colour, strong flavour, etc. so that, when you can, a granny smith apple instead of a red gala apple or pink delicious of whatever sweet ones they're pushing hardest, and maybe add a few citrus fruits, 1 or 2 properly ripe bananas, maybe a kiwi fruit or two, just a few cherries or red grapes, maybe a pomegranate, a tamarillo or some berries... you get the idea. If that's too much, then I reckon either there must be quite a few relatively empty calories somewhere you can trim from your diet, or you can probably do a lot more exercise.
[quote="custerdome"]
Part of my confusion has to do with the fact that most studies regarding fructose and weight gain seem to focus on high fructose corn syrup rather than whole fruit.
Because any even remotely typical serving of HFCS has much more fructose (much more sugar) than typical fruit! Also, the nutritionists often seem to weigh into these debates in the media to point out that regular sugar (a disaccharide of fructose + glucose) metabolises to the same as HFCS anyway, so there is very little difference. I think you will find that, in fact, fruits normally contain a mixture of fructose, sucrose and glucose, which works out to a varying fructose:glucose end product ratio usually around 1:1. In other words, gram for gram, sugar from fruit is equivalent to sugar from cane grass or beets, or HFCS, except that eating a few pieces of fruit will give you a relatively small amount, together with some other useful nutrients.
[quote="custerdome"]
If you have any recommendations
I am not a nutritionist or into endurance sports but can I suggest...
a) Train as much as you safely can
b) Consider reducing caloric intake during any off periods from training, e.g. especially if you have a break for 2-3 days, but even potentially dinner the night before. This is all relative to YOUR needs/total energy use. The theory is this will allow better caloric intake/glycogen stores when you actually need them for exercise, on the same or lower total "calorie budget".
c) Get SLIGHTLY less calories overall than you use (trial and error), but don't fall into the trap of assuming that provides you the full solution for health, performance or even weight loss. Despite constant claims to the contrary, calorie calculations from food are at best a useful very rough approximation of what's happening in a complex system.
d) Low fat diets (within sensible limits) seem to work better for highly active endurance athletes, due perhaps mainly to actually burning enough energy that, say 10% of calories, is enough fat. If you go there, reduce fat intake gradually and listen to your body, your doctor or nutritionist for how it responds to at least 2-3 weeks of a given nutrition program, not how an 80/10/10 guru interprets the symptoms.
M."
