Hello,

I recently decided to become Vegan for ethical reasons mainly, but also for nutritional reasons.

The problem, however, is that before I went Vegan I never really understood nutrition to begin with. Now I am Vegan and have even less body and nutrition intake options to choose from, and still don't understand nutrition.

I used to eat mainly meat, a lot of carbs, barely any vegetables, and too many sweets - not a good diet.

Now though, I only eat the basics of a Vegan diet - granola, peanut butter, apples, clif bars, and the occasional hot meal (which, thankfully, are full of vegetables and complex carbs) - not an ideal diet either.

In addition, I am starting to regularly workout in my pursuit of being a healthier person.

The purpose of this post is to gather enough information to begin knowing what to buy at the store, so that I can have an actual, healthy, Vegan diet which also has enough complex carbs, protein, and calories to keep me from being hungry all the time, build muscle, and lean up.

I would categorize myself as "skinny fat" but with a decent amount of muscle as a starting point; 190lbs, 6' tall; want to mix and match calethenics with cardio for my workouts; and my job requires me to constantly be moving at a fast pace for at least 10 hours a day. 

With all of that now said, I at least understand that I need to increase my caloric intake, increase carbohydrate intake, and increase protein intake across the board. The problem is that I don't know where to start to begin an effective Vegan diet.

Some of my questions:

• If I work out every morning (mix and match calisthenics with cardio), should I NOT eat before I run to try and lean up? Should I eat before I workout to give my muscles more food to burn up? Should I eat a large breakfast after I run/workout?
• How am I supposed to know when to actually consume calories and carbs and when to NOT consume calories and carbs?
• Argument between "16 hour fasting" and "eating constantly throughout the day"?
• Argument between "drink a protein shake right after you workout" and "eat REAL food that is high in protein right after you workout?"
• How long before you go to bed should you stop eating?

My goal is to learn how to put my own diet together that fits my body, lean up, and also gain muscle along with it.

Thank you!

You are asking a lot so I will try to condense as much as I can. I commend you for your choice on going Vegan but you must understand humans are omnivores and a vegan diet is lacking in some key critical nutrients that you will need to compensate for. These nutrients are:

1) Vitamin B12. You will need to buy a B12 supplement. There are no plant sources of B12 as it is an animal-derived vitamin (fish, meat, eggs). B12 is critical for blood cell formation, converting food to energy in combination with B vitamins, keeping hormones high, and helping with muscle repair. Many (not all) vegans become anemic and have issues with energy levels due to low B12 levels. You need about 2.5 to 5 micrograms per day.

2) Omega 3's. Omega 3 fatty acids are obtained primarily from oily fish (salmon, tuna, mackeral, sardines) and egg yolks. As a vegan, the most important thing to do is NEVER use vegetable oils to cook with or consume (soy, corn, sunflower, safflower). These are too high in Omega 6 fatty acids which cause chronic inflammation. Always use olive or coconut oils. For Omega 3's, you can get these from flaxseed meal and walnuts. If you will not be eating fish or eggs, make sure to eat flaxseed meal and walnuts for ALA which gets converted to Omega 3 in the body.

3) Complete proteins. Plants are not good sources of complete proteins in and of themselves. As a Vegan, you will need to eat a lot of different vegetables to ensure you get complete proteins. Meat, eggs, fish, and dairy have these key amino acids in all servings which is why carnivores don't have to worry about protein consumption. For a Vegan, high protein foods are quinoa, barley, whole wheat, peas, walnuts, almonds, chick peas, spinach, and soy. Quinoa is the only non-animal sourced item that has all essential amino acids and proteins. It is really a seed versus a grain and is very tasty, nutritious, and easy to prepare.

4)Vitamin D. The only adequate food sources of vitamin D are salmon, tuna, and egg yolks. Various plants, seeds, and vegetables have some amounts but not enough for optimal health. 90% of the world population is deficient in Vitamin D due to lower sun exposure and use of sun blocks as well as poor diet. The sun is still the best source of Vitamin D. Vitamin D is really a hormone and hormone modulator not a vitamin. More research has been done on Vitamin D in the last 10 years and more and more is being found out about how critical it is to health, preventing all cancers, heart health, hormone health, brain health, and colon health. Optimal Vitamin D levels are 50ng to 100ng. The USDA recommendations and most medical guidelines list 20ng - 50ng as enough. The current research does not support these limits. You will first need to get a 25OH blood test to get your current Vitamin D levels. If it is lower than 50ng, you will need to supplement with at least 2000IUs of Vitamin D3 per day. You need to make sure to buy Vitamin D3 and NOT D2. D3 is the form the body uses. Do not supplement with Vitamin D until you know what your current blood levels are via the 25OH test (which you specifically have to ask for as part of an annual medical screening).

5) Processed foods like Cliff Bars need to be avoided. They are nothing but a glorified candy bar. Too many Vegans still eat too much processed and added sugar which is the root cause of most chronic diseases. If you want to be a true Vegan, then you must eat real fruits, vegetables, grains, and seeds in their natural state and cook them yourself. Anything in a package or box, regardless if it has no meat, fish, dairy, or eggs, is still a processed food. The real health benefits of a Vegan diet is when you do it with real, unprocessed food. Cutting out meat, dairy, fish, and eggs is still not a free pass to eat shit food. If you need convienence foods, eat nuts or whole fruit. Just remember nuts are high in calories so if you are using these for snacks instead of Cliff bars you have to make sure to account for their calories. 30grams (1/4 cup) of walnuts has 200 calories, for example.

As to your additional questions:

1) Training fasted (running, lifting weights) does burn more body fat as fuel as your body has lower amounts of available glucose since you have not eaten prior to training. It is not an easy thing to do and takes mental training to fight thru the perceived hunger pangs and wait to eat after your workout is done.

2) Humans do not need nor are designed for continual food intake regardless of what you have been told. You can break your fast ("breakfast") at any time you wish. I have been doing the 16:8 Intermittent Fasting protocol for over 3 years now and it has worked great for me. It might be worth trying to see how your body and mind react to it. At the end of the day, your body treats nutritious calories the same regardless of what time you eat them. The key point is they must be nutritious - not processed, man-made, packaged shit most people call "food" today.

3) You must consume calories everyday. You must run a slight deficit off your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) to lose body fat or run a slight surplus above TDEE to gain muscle. The deficit/surplus ranges should be +/- 250 to 500 calories. Carbs are what fuel your workout and support muscle growth. As long as you are not eating more calories than you need, it doesn't matter when you eat them. Every meal should contain carbs, healthy fats, and protein. You should NEVER eat a meal that has just one or two macros. You must eat all 3 together for maximum benefit.

4) I am a huge proponent of intermittent fasting (IF) and have been doing it for 3+ years now. There are many pros that are too numerous to list here in detail. What I can share is the following - Intermittent Fasting has been clinically proven to provide the following health benefits:

a) Reduce aging by promoting autophagy and apoptosis (clean out dead and dying cells as well as potentially cancerous cells)

b) Reduce the incidences of all types of cancer. Cancer cells can not use fat as fuel. They need sugar (glucose) and consume it at twice the rate of healthy cells.

c) Increase insulin sensitivity reducing the chances of developing Type 2 diabetes

d) Reduce the risk for heart disease, alzheimer's/dementia, and type 2 diabetes

e) Allows the digestive system to repair itself and thus reduces many cancers of the digestive tract (colon, stomach, esophageal) as well as IBS, and Crohn's disease.

f) Reduction in body fat by increasing Growth Hormone (GH) levels by up to 2000% in males naturally. GH tells the body to use fat as fuel and spares muscle.

g) Lose body fat without losing substantial muscle mass naturally.

IF is not for everyone and it is not a cure-all. What it does do is dramatically reduce the aging process and the probability of your developing chronic diseases. However, it takes strong mental willpower - especially the first 30 days - to retrain your brain not to expect food first thing in the morning or every 2-3 hours. The hunger you feel is 100% mental and not physical. True physical hunger does not occur until after 72 hours of no food consumption. It will take time for your metabolism to learn to switch easily between fat burning (fasting) and glucose burning (feeding) times. There are many different fasting protocols but the 16:8 is the easiest to follow in my opinion because you are just extending your 8-12 hour fast (when you are sleeping) another 4-6 hours as you break the fast at Noon versus when you wake up.

5) Consuming protein shakes right after you workout just gets protein into the system faster as it doesn't need to be digested. Eating real food after you workout has the same effect it just takes a bit longer to get into your bloodstream as the food has to be digested into amino acids. At the end of the day, your body doesn't care and using protein shakes, real food, or a combination of both have exactly the same results. Neither method is better. The main issue is to ensure you are eating ENOUGH protein to support muscle repair and growth. Supplements help when combined with real food as there is only so much food you can eat each day.

6) Food timing is irrelevant to your body despite what you have been told. Your body treats 800 calories at 8AM, 2PM, or 11PM exactly the same. Food consumption becomes a body fat and weight management issue based on HOW MUCH you eat not WHEN you eat it. Again, if you are eating more calories than your body needs you will gain body fat regardless of what time you consumed the calories. It is a nutritional fallacy that eating after 9PM or so will cause weight gain. That myth has been de-bunked years ago. It is the same logic Coca Cola uses when they try to say a calorie is a calorie to try to convince people their products aren't shit. Calories are the same in definition only. Where a calorie from a Coke differs from the same calorie in an apple is METABOLICALLY. They are not processed the same way in the body and their effects at the cellular level are very different even though they may both contain the same exact calories.

John

Thank you very much for your thorough response, that is exactly what I was looking for.

I understood all of your points, thanks! However, still though I do not understand carbs - when you consume 100g of carbs right before you go to work, you will clearly burn up those carbs. However, when you consume 100g of carbs but do not do much physically, when will those carbs turn into sugar and then into stored fat? Is it just a matter of time?

What you say about clif bars, would you say the same about something like chocolate granola? High in sugar and still processed?

Would a better breakfast cereal be oats with a little bit of cocoa powder and fruit medely?

For all day snacking, which Clif bars filled the niche for, would carrying around a bag of almonds be too easy to end up consuming too many complex carbs and calories (because they are so dense in these nutrients)?

Do I just need to start planning out my meals throughout the day to assure that I can cook / eat a wholesome meal for those 8 hours of eating? Basically, is that the only way to achieve a truly healthy diet versus just relying on small, easy to eat foods like nuts, apples, etc.?

Thanks!

Glad I could help. As to your additional questions:

1) TDEE is total energy you burn each day. If your body needs 500 carbs each day to survive and to support your activity, as long as you don't eat more than 500 grams of carbs it will be used as fuel not stored as fat regardless of when you eat them. Carbs not only power your workouts but on rest days they provide the energy for your body to use protein and fats to repair damaged muscle tissue from your workouts. This is why tracking your macros is so important and ensuring you don't eat anything over your TDEE for the day from all 3 macros combined is critical. Carb consumption and fat gain requires a continual process over many days/weeks/years of eating more calories than you burn. Also, the quality of the carbs matter: processed carbs turn into sugar very quickly and spike your insulin levels leading to fat gain. Natural, unprocessed carbs like whole oats, whole wheat, brown/black/red rice, whole vegetables, and whole fruit are digested much slower and do not spike your insulin levels (which leads to fat gain when done constantly) because of the fiber and nutrients they contain.

I combine Intermittent fasting with carb-cycling. All this means is that I eat more carbs and less fat on workout days and more fat and less carbs on rest days. Protein intake stays the same. This method provides the carbs your body needs for your workouts and refuels them post workout but on rest days your body uses primarily fat as a fuel but still has some carbs available so it doesn't go into "survival mode" and slow your metabolism and fat burning. Your body needs to see a regular stream of glucose from carbs or it thinks it is starving. Keto diets are an extreme manipulation technique where you retrain your body to rely 100% on fat as fuel and eat less than 20g of carbs each day. This method does shed weight and body fat and works for most people but not all. It is a very difficult process but once achieved your metabolism will run normally as long as you supply enough healthy fats for fuel.

2) Granola is another glorified candy bar. Stay away from anything in a wrapper. They are all processed junk food regardless of the claims on the label. I would also include protein bars and energy bars. Again, they all come in wrappers and sold in boxes. They are all processed junk food with very little nutritional value for their calories.

3) I eat whole oats (not the ground powdered junk Quaker sells) with a little bit of cinammon and whole berries (blueberries, blackberries, raspberries). I use Bob's Organic Old Fashioned Rolled Oats which Trader Joe's, WholeFoods, or even Stop&Shop/Safeway/Krogers should have. I buy fresh berries not anything in a pre-packaged fruit medley. This would be an optimal breakfast choice on your part.

4) Nuts have protein and fat and very little carbs. It is the healthy fats that add to the high calorie count as 1g of fat has 9 calories versus 4 calories for 1 gram of carbs. The great thing about fats is they fill you up better than carbs and are a more powerful fuel source for your body. As long as the calories from the almonds or walnuts you snack on in combination with your other food intake for the day don't exceeed your TDEE, then you will not gain fat. You can eat as many complex carbs each day as you want as long as your carb, fat, and protein counts in total do not exceed your TDEE. It still is the same basic formula - calories consumed must equal calories burned regardless of where the calories come from or what time you eat them.

5) It should be obvious by now that if you don't create a meal plan, know your TDEE, and track your macros you will not find success in gaining lean muscle and losing fat. Preparing your food in advance helps with the convienence aspect. I cook my chicken in advance so it is ready to eat faster than doing it from scratch. I cut up bowls of different vegetables so they are ready to eat. At the end of the day, eating fruit and nuts for quick snacks is fine. The most important thing is to keep track of these extra calories as they add up quickly and can lead to fat gain regardless of the fact that they are wholesome foods.

I don't need nor eat snacks. You will find that if you eat enough calories - especially healthy fat calories - with each meal your body won't need a "top up" before your next meal. I use an 8 hour feeding window and eat 2 meals - one at Noon and one at 7PM. Both meals are over 1000 calories each such that I meet my target TDEE goal for the day. I use things like coconut oil, whole eggs, and whole-fat dairy to help up the calorie count. And before you ask, fat and cholesterol do not cause heart disease and never did. This mantra is based on a disproven theory from the 1950s called the Lipid Hypothesis. It has never been proven and it is used today to help sell profitable and dangerous Statin drugs. When you eat a wholesome diet consisting of non-processed, highly nutritious foods with no added man-made sugars and fats, you will not have a cholesterol problem and never need these bullshit drugs.

John

Again, thanks for the helpful information. Definitely would never have learned about any of this if I never asked.

If carbs/calories have all day to possibly be burned off to assure you do not exceed your TDEE, then what about other nutrients; why can't you just burn off excess sugar just like carbs/caloiries? Are "bad" nutrients like sugar different from macro nutrients in the way that they are process differently and turn into stored fat relatively quickly?

For my protein shakes, right after I workout, I add 40g of plant based protein, about 2 cups of whole oats, and a little bit of creatine.

However, that protein powder has a lot of ingredients, albeit all plant based and organic, and I want to replace it with a simpler protein powder. I was thinking about buying both brown rice protein powder and pea protein powder and just adding a scoop of each to my shakes. Or is there something else that you would recommend?

First meal of the day/post workout:

Shake:

- Brown rice protein powder

- Pea protein powder

- 3 cups of whole oats

- Cinnamon

- Almond milk or soy milk (soy milk usually is fortified with B12)

- Little bit of chocolate almond milk for flavor

- 1tbsp of creatine

Or, cereal if I didn't work out:

- 4 cups of whole oats

- Dried berries of some kind

- Cinnamon

- Almond milk or soy milk

Snacks:

- Apples

- Almonds/nuts of some kind

- Carrots and hummus

- Bean and vegetable dip of some kind with tortilla chips

End of the day meal:

- Some kind of big bowl of grains and vegetables

- Black bean burger

- Sweet potato pita pockets

- Things like that ^

Those are pretty much the ideas I have to adjust my diet to something more nutritious. What would you change or add?

Nutrition is a multi-faceted subject and there are so many options and mis-conceptions that it can be daunting to make sense of it all.

1) When you look at the calories you consume each day from fats, carbs, and proteins, your body uses them in their entirety. It does not do "selective" burning. Carbs are used to replenish glycogen stores in your liver and muscles and used as the prefered fuel source to keep you alive. Fats are needed to make all your hormones, maintain your brain and nervous system, and form the membrane of all cells and can serve as an alternate fuel source for healthy cells (cancer cells do not have this ability). Protein is there to repair not only your muscles but also all body cells as well as being a key component of your immune system.

Each macro follows a slightly different metabolic pathway in your body when you eat it. However, your body only needs so many calories per day based on your age, sex, health, and activity level. When you constantly eat more total calories regardless of which macros they are from, you will gain weight. It is a survival mechanism built into our genetic code to ensure we always have energy and nutrients to survive. Before our modern times, food was scarce and hard to come by. Early man didn't eat regularly nor did he have access to food 24/7 like we do today. Our genetic code evolved to adapt to this food availabilty environment.

The current epidemic of obesity, chronic diseases, and other ailments is because we are "short circuiting" these built in survival mechanisms by eating too much, too often, and the "food" we eat is devoid of nutrients, fiber, and is highly processed. Our bodies do the best they can to adapt to this onslaught of calories and "foreign" food stuffs we put in our bodies. Any macro, whether it is natural from wholesome food, or man-made as in processed food will cause weight gain if you eat too much. The speed and impact differs between natural foods and processed foods. Sugar in natural foods has a slower impact on insulin and blood sugar levels whereas man-made and added sugars in processed food cause an immediate spike in insulin and blood sugar levels. This occurs because processed foods lack the fiber and micronutrients that slow the digestion and absorption of the sugar. You will see the terms Glycemic Index (GI) and Glycemic Load (GL) when it comes to carbs. These rate how quickly a carb raises insulin levels (GI) and to what extent (GL). You want carbs with low GIs and GLs which only come from natural food sources never man-made ones. Potential weight gain is accelerated when you constantly eat high GI and GL carbs which is what 99% of all Americans do.

2) For plant based proteins, your options are soy, pea, and brown rice. I would use whichever one works best for you. In general, a soy protein tends to be more complete and can be bought with minimal added ingredients.

One note of caution - I saw in one of your other posts you mentioned soy and almond milk. I would not use soy milk. Soy contains a very high amount of phytoestrogens than can cause hormonal issues in men. Eating soy/tofu or using soy protein powders is fine. Soy milk, however, has a more readily absorbable form of these estrogen-like chemicals and in higher amounts. The effects on men can be the formation of male breast tissue, body fat gain, low testosterone, and prostate issues. I would stick with almond milk if you are avoiding dairy. Men are not meant to have high levels of estrogen. We naturally produce our own form called Estradiol in very small amounts in relation to testosterone. If this estrogen balance is thrown off by execessive xeno-estrogens like soy, it can cause a bunch of issues and affect your training.

3) Your meal plan looks good and has a wide variety of foods. You should be OK but you will know based on how your body reacts and recovers from your training based on this plan. If energy levels are low or you are not gaining size and strength and/or you take longer to recover from your workouts, you made need to tweek it.

I would suggest that when you go to your GP for an annual check-up (assuming you do that) that you have the following things done as part of your blood tests:

a) Vitamin B12 levels

b) Vitamin D levels (25 OH D test)

c) Testosterone levels

You have to explicitly ask for them and all labs know how to perform these tests. Insurance should cover them but if not they are not very expensive. It is important as a Vegan diet has no B12 without taking a supplement which you will have to make sure to buy and take. It also does not supply enough Vitamin D3 and very little cholesterol and saturated fats which are key for testosterone production. Adding in olive and coconut oil will help with the saturated and mono-saturated fat needs and a Vitamin D3 supplement will help with your D levels if they are low (below 50ng).

John

1) Basically, long story short: sugar, and other simple carbs, easily spikes your insulin levels, which is exactly not what you want.

Also, the more in-frequent your meals are (for example, you only eating two meals a day), the less insulin spikes you have, which is the basis for participating in a 16:8 hour fasting program. Less insulin spikes, less fat your body stores.

Correct?

2) I am aware of phytoestrogens in soy milk - however, I read that keeping your soy milk consumption low didn't give males any adverse affects, also because it is similar to estrogen and is not actually estrogen. Where did you obtain this information? I'm always open to new information.

3) It would be a good idea to get those levels checked - thank you!

Thanks for all of the good advice. Very helpful!

Another question. Why do people tote the "eating 8 small meals a day" keeps your metabolism spiked? I can understand the theory behind it. However, I also understand that our ancestors, like you just said, never ate that much food and in that frequency. Eating less, very nutritious meals a day seems like the most natural way to eat. What are your thoughts?

Since the last time I posted, I have cut out a lot of simple carbs and added sugar (pizza, chips, soda, chocolate almond milk, chocolate granola, clif bars, etc.), and have been eating almost entirely good, nutritious foods (bowls of grains and legumes with assorted greens, peanuts, almonds, more oats, carrots with hummus, etc.) concentrated into two meals a day, very much like how you eat.

I have already dropped weight - according to my weight scale. And definitely don't feel as "gunky" anymore, mentally as well as physically.

However, I still want to make sure that my current diet, as well as my current plans to impliment are on the right track towards a much healthier, fasting based diet:

• Now, I am going to only drink breakfast shakes / protein shakes with: rolled oats (not quick oats), leafy greens, ancient grains, one scoop of amino acid enriched protein powder, handful of berries, and cinnamon (no other added sugars)
• Not going to drink soy milk anymore - however, will still consume organic tofu and organic tempeh
• Add more vegetables to my diet (something that I still lack large quantities of); more broccoli, greens like spinach and kale
• If I ever do eat bread, only eat very specific sprouted whole grain style bread
• For dinners,
• Turn my workouts into an actual 5-day a week program, instead of the inconsistent days of working out like I used to do
• Reduce snacking inbetween meals - because as I understand it, any time you abstain from eating, you are giving your body more time to process the meals that you ate beforehand, and are reducing your insulin spikes. Correct?

What else would you add?

Throw in some cardio into my workout routine?

How much sleep would you personally reccomend getting each night?

Not only do I want good nutrition. I want to learn healthy habits to instill into my life.

Thanks!

Excellent. Looks like you have done some thorough planning and have put in place a solid nutritional foundation. Other than making sure to have your Vitamin D, B12, and Testosterone levels tested each year, you have a solid plan in place for long term health. As for your questions:

1) When you fast and/or abstain from eating, it accomplishes several things: it allows the digestive system to rest and heal, initiates apoptosis and autophagy whereby the body destroys old and dying cells and cancerous cells, increases immune system activity and growth hormone levels, and increases insulin sensitivity. You are correct in that it reduces insulin spikes as there is no flood of glucose into the bloodstream during fasting.

2) You look to have a good variety of foods. The key to a Vegan diet is lots of variety in plants, legumes, and nuts/seeds to make sure you get complete amino acid profiles and micronutrients.

3) Adding cardio is your choice. I personally don't do it nor need it as my workouts are very short (60 Minutes), very intense (burn an average of 800 calories), and I already run a slight 250-500 calorie deficit using Intermittent Fasting and carb cycling. Cardio can help if you want to add in some additional metabolic expenditure to increase BMR and burn more calories. However, too much cardio is counter-productive and actually leads to muscle loss and fat gain. Too much cardio would be 6-7 days a week of "standard" cardio of 30 minutes or more or 4-7 days of true HIIT cardio of 20 minutes or more.

4) You need to get 7-9 hours of quality sleep each night. Numerous studies have shown that consistently sleeping less than 7 hours a night increases body fat levels, increases cortisol levels, lowers GH and testosterone, and interferes with insulin sensitivity. As most Americans eat too many simple carbs and processed foods and get too little sleep, we have plenty of field data to back up these findings based on the health of the average American.

5) The "eat 6-8 small meals a day" mantra is from an old nutritional belief that it speeds up your metabolism. We live in a fast food, 24/7/365 access to food society so promoting the notion to continually eat is good for business. The bottom line is your body treats 2000 calories the same regardless of how many meals you consume them over and what time you eat them. Numerous current studies have disproven this belief and the true impacts on metabolism are activity level, health, age, sex, and how much lean muscle you have not meal frequency. The problem with frequent eating is you can easily eat more calories than you need unless you weigh your food and track your macros. It also helps rationalize the need for snacking which more often than not is due to eating less nutritionally dense foods or insulin spikes requiring the need for frequent "top-ups".

The good news is things like "sweet toothes" and "sugar cravings" are the product of mental addiction to sugar. Once you eliminate these sources and continuously eat healthy and nutrient dense foods, not only do these cravings disappear but also your health and ability to maintain eating in this fashion improve dramatically. Healthy living is a marathon not a sprint and something you must do everyday to reap its benefits in your lifetime.

John

Thank you sir! Very informational.

From our conversation, what i've gathered is that:

• Fasting, in general, is a healthy and historically natural diet to live by
• Added sugars are really what you want to stay away from
• Simple carbs are just as important to stay away from than sugar

I do have a couple more questions, however.

1) How does the "~2,000 calories a day" concept work? Your body doesn't just reset at 12:00AM and then you start your new 2,000 calorie countdown for that day. When does your body actually start and stop processing all of your nutrients?

2) Would you even stay away from items such as sprouted, whole grain bread? Or wheat in general? Because, that is still a simple carb which doesn't provide a steady stream of nutrients like complex carbs do.

3) How does eating right before you go to bed work? From what you've described, it sounds like it doesn't matter. As long as you keep your calorie deficit. Correct?

Thanks!

1) Intermittent Fasting (IF) is an eating protocol not a diet. A diet inplies some form of calorie restriction. IF does not restrict calorie amounts but rather confines the time frame in which you eat them. It also requires eating wholesome nutritionally dense foods and not eating more calories than your body needs. Some people view it as a free pass to still eat badly or as much as they want during their feeding window.

2) Your body is burning calories 24/7/365. Your BMR is the absolute minimum calories needed to "keep the lights on" - e.g. power your brain and all body systems. TDEE is your BMR plus additional calories needed for movement/exercise. If your TDEE is 2,000 calories, it means your body will use a total of 2,000 calories over a 24 hour period to power the body's systems and whatever daily activity you undertake. This is why so many people are obese because they eat way more calories than what their body needs and they are very inactive which further adds to the excess calories becoming stored fat - subcutaneous and the very dangerous visceral fat. Your brain is very active when you sleep and consumes up to 25% of all the body's glucose. This is why Growth Hormone (GH) is released in higher amounts when you sleep as it tells the fat cells to release their energy to be used by the brain. This system works when you eat slow burning carbs and your liver and muscles absorb the majority of the glucose produced when you are awake. When you constantly eat crap carbs all day long, have low muscle mass, and eat too many calories, your GH levels are suppressed because there is still insulin and excess glucose in the blood. Insulin and GH are antagonistic - when one is the high, the other is low. Your body never gets a chance to burn its fat stores while you sleep. You also need at least 7 hours of sleep to maximixe this GH release. Americans in general don't sleep enough and have too much blood glucose - breaking this GH/Insulin system and fueling obesity.

3) As I mentioned, your body needs a constant influx of calories. The timing is irrelevant. You actually digest food better when asleep than awake because your body can direct more blood to the digestive system than to the muscles and other body systems. This is why you get a "food coma" when you eat a meal full of quick digesting carbs like white bread, white rice, or white pasta. The blood gets flooded with glucose and the brain signals the body to rest so it can digest all the food. All calories are treated the same regardless of timing. The same goes for eating excess calories. They will all be stored as body fat no matter when you eat them. The notion that your metabolism will speed up more during the morning or day is not 100% accurate. There is the thermogenic effect of food that happens at any meal time - foods like protein and fiber burn up to 50% of the calories they supply in the digestion process. This is why high fiber high protein diets can increase metabolic rate slightly. However, it still doesn't change the basic equation of calories in must equal calories out to maintain weight and calories in must be less than calories out to lose weight.

4) Sprouted grains and whole wheats are not simple carbs. Simple carbs are whole grains that have been processed whereby the outer hull and bran layers are removed leaving just the endosperm. The endosperm is white and is pure starch. The husks and outer bran layers are what make whole wheat and rice brown. White, starchy carbs are what need to be avoided. When you eat whole wheat, it takes more time to digest due to the outer bran layers and fiber. This results in a "slow burn" of energy. When you eat white flower-based products, digestion starts in the mouth with saliva and then follows rapid absorption in the small intestines because there is no fiber or outer bran layers to slow down digestion. This causes a rapid spike in insulin and fuels brain cravings for more fast burning sugary carbs. It becomes a viscious cycle whereby your body becomes accustomed to constant quick burn energy and thus you must constantly eat quick energy foods.

John

Ok now I understand. Thank you!

My next steps will be to obtain a B12, testosterone, and vitamin D levels from my doctor.

I also need to use the Macro calculator to learn how many of X, Y, and Z that I need.

I definitely eat better after starting this thread - thank you, John! I do not drink sodas, eat nearly as much processed foods and snacks, and have taken up a liking to more vegetables and more nutrition in what I eat.

Mr. John,

If I may have your advice again? I am wanting to learn more; specifically, why I always am wanting to eat, and end up overeating, which is why I believe I am not losing fat like I should be losing it.

This example is a recent one - for the past week: for breakfast I have 2 cups of oats, 2 cups of protein almond milk, which eqautes to about 880 calories + 60 grams of protein.

For lunch, I have 1/2 cup of peanuts (400 calories, 18g of protein), a little cup of hummus and carrots (about 300 calories), and a salad full of greens, olive oil, 1 cup of beans, etc. (350 calories + 25 grams of protein solely from the can of beans).

So, 880 + 400 + 300 + 350 = 1,930 calories (not including everything else that usually are in my salads). 60 + 18 + 25 = 103 grams of protein. Yet, whenever I get home, I feel like I am starving. I always have the urge to eat food, and I eventually do well into the night, but to no avail because I always feel hungry or have the urge to eat.

What gives, in your opinion?

The past month I have really gotten serious about what I put into my body. I cut out processed sugars. I cut out simple carbohydrate, package food. I haven't drinken a soda in 4 months. However, I definitely overeat: after I get home from work, I eat more peanuts, peanut butter, tortilla chips, tortilla chips and hummus, apples, apples and peanut butter, or I make myself an actual meal (something like a quinoa salad or roasted potatoes and broccolli). Yet, I still feel hungry, and always have the urge to eat.

The only thing that I can think of is that my body is telling me to take in more calories, because of my work which is physical labor, and maybe I need more than most people need because I am 6'1" and weigh 180 pounds? Or, it's entirely mental and my body is not used to not having all of the satiating foods that I used to eat: a lot of bread (albeit multigrain bread), a lot of sugar (cookies, chocolate anything, dark chocolate), chips of any kind, high carbohydrate foods typically, which is making my mind crave more food?

It is a combination of both:

First off, 1,900 calories is way too low for someone of your size with a physically active job and who is also lifting. You probably need more in the area of 2800-3000 calories. You should use a TDEE calculator to get your daily calorie numbers. Use a Google seach as there are many out there.

Second, sugar is addictive. It is as addictive as heroin and nicotine and re-wires the same pleasure centers in the brain. It may take up to a year of proper eating to curb the cravings. This is why it is so hard to kick a sugar habit after years of eating shit food. Junk food and processed food is specifically designed, like cigarettes, to addict you and make you want more.

My recommendation is get your TDEE and increase your calories from 1,900 to whatever the new number is by increasing all 3 macros - healthy fats, protein, and carbs. Don't be scared by the calorie increase. Contrary to popular belief, the body will actually burn more body fat if given the right amount of calories. Too little calorie intake slows the metabolism, causes food cravings, and shuts down fat burning to conserver energy.

John

You are right, knowing my actual macros would help.

I already have switched from processed sugars / flours to eating fruit 95% of the time, whenever I want something sweet. For example, apples and peanut butter is my favorite dessert.

Now, how much fruit do you eat? How much sugar in fruit do you personally worry about?

That all makes a lot of sense.. thank you very much!

Hey Woodster, I'm almost at my one year mark from the day I switched to a vegan diet.  I wish I could have gotten in this discussion earlier, just to give some of my personal insights.  How has it been for you so far?

For fruits, I eat a lot.  I'm a picky eater, and even though I'm vegan, I don't like most vegetables!  But I eat a lot of apples, oranges, grapes, strawberries, kiwis, etc.  Getting sugar from fruits is different than getting processed sugar.  The fruits come with a lot of water and fiber, which means your blood sugar won't spike as fast as processed sugars will.  It is possible to go overboard.  But I remember reading about a study where people ate like 20 servings of fruit a day, and didn't have any adverse affects.  Still, I wouldn't suggest going anywhere near that, just keep it to something reasonable and you probably don't have to worry about it.

There was a lot of mention of B12 above.  There are a lot of fortified vegan foods that contain B12.  The "milk" I drink has over 100% of the daily recommended B12 in one serving, so that alone means I don't need to supplement.  I also eat a lot of fortified tofu and tempeh (if you haven't tried these or haven't found good recipes, you're missing out!), which also contain B12.  Even the bran flakes I sometimes eat has B12.  Throw in a multi-vitamin, and you'll get plenty of B12.  Just make sure you're getting some of these sources.  If you still really need B12 they make oral spray vitamins.

For a protein powder blend, you can go to any mass supplement vendor and get a custom blend of 70% pea protein, and 30% rice protein.  This will have a similar amino profile to whey protein.  If you want a commercial option I think vega sport is also similar to whey in its amino acids.  Of course I agree it's better to get all of your nutrients from real food, so every day eat I eat a variety of vegetables, rice, and soy.