Hi guys!
So I would like to ask two things:
- I would like to ask you to rate my diet below. Vegetables are a little harder to eat here as they are limited and what there is available has to be thoroughly cleaned and made sterile which means soaking them in chlorine water (I never do this) or steaming them THOROUGHLY (not everything tastes nice after steaming or it just isn’t possible) and;
- I would like some nutrition advice to complement the 20 rep squat routine. I have no access to milk and I live in West Africa so I need to make the calories up from somewhere. I was thinking of getting them from cashew nuts as they’re so available here but that would be a lot of food/calories from a single source.
Breakfast:
Homemade tortilla (paleo tortilla - recipe: mandioca flour, homemade coconut milk and flour plus 3-4 eggs) with cheese and sometimes with homemade cashew butter
One or two scrambled eggs
Fruit salad (depending what is at the market - usually a mix of papaya, pineapple, orange, mango and banana) with cinnamon, ginger and honey
Protein shake (whey)
Snack 1
Handful of cashew nuts and maybe a piece of fruit (Jackfruit when it is available)
Lunch
Varies but we eat a lot of seafood here but typically something like one of the following:
Fresh fish or king prawns with vegetables and rice or mandioca and some vegetables (this may not be just fried/grilled fish with rice or mandioca as the side. For example, I made Thai prawn curry the other day)
Lentils with beef and veg cooked into them with rice or mandioca
Pureed squash/pumpkin with some veg and some kind of seafood
Snack 2
Handful of cashew nuts and maybe a piece of fruit (the rest of the pack of jackfruit, for example)
Evening Meal
Something similar to lunch
Before bed
Vegan mix (rice, hemp and pea protein) shake
Pre-gym
Leftovers from lunch
Post-gym
Protein shake (whey) and maybe a small banana then evening meal when I get home
Well your nutrition looks clean, delicious and freaking awesome!
In order to “rate” your diet I guess it really depends on what your goals are. Adding mass? Getting lean? Maintenance? In terms of food choices it looks fantastic. Meat, fresh fish, rice, wide variety vegetables, nuts, good clean macro sources, all looks just great.
As far as nutrition advice to go with your squat routine, there’s isn’t really a food or nutrition plan that goes with certain exercises. Ultimately the thing that matters most is calories in terms of weight, compositionally macros come more into play. Personally I feel food choices and sources do play a roll in performance and body composition and all of your food looks great.
Your pre training meal is lunch leftovers which seems like good proteins, carbs from rice and veggies. Post workout you have your protein and a banana. All seems good.
If you want something more specific, maybe just let us know what exactly you’re looking for? Be sure to post height/weight and such.
Thanks for the reply.
I suppose I should have put my measurements, yes. I am 6ft/180cm and 80kg/176lbs. Given my frame etc. it is probably about normal. No specific goal as such, just look good naked so I suppose that is get stronger as if I am strong, it will show. I enjoy lifting weights and I use to do it a lot years ago but then I had to travel a lot and I was living in rural Paraguay etc. so no gym and limited food. Now I am in West Africa but in a fixed location for a fixed amount of time (contract) so I can start a routine again.
I am currently doing a squat based 5x5 routine that I intend to change to the 20 rep squats routine, that I mentiond above, in a few weeks when my gains stop. Calories I have never worked out here. I don’t do the cooking here either so I couldn’t even really estimate them as I don’t know what weights were used of fish etc. I have just been eating 5-6 times a day from healthy sources and basing the amounts on how I feel (if I am recovering) and how I look in the mirror (body composition).
The food here is great, yes. The only thing is even if you are feeling lazy, you still have to go to the market as there are no supermarkets here. The reward is tasty food that is natural and pretty much organic for next to nothing.
Re. the question about food for the 20 rep squats - what I was asking is if anybody can recommend any sources of dense calories that aren’t from milk (not sold here), not if there are any foods that go with the routine itself. Sorry for the confusion.
I hope all this helps. Any advice or opinions would be much appreciated.
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Gotcha, thanks for the info. Given your goals of strength and aesthetics, I think your current method of 5-6 meals a day is great, the mirror and listening to your body are the best tools if you know how to make them work which it seems like you do.
In terms of dense calorie sources, nuts and nut butters are always great sources of healthy dietary fats, as are coconut and olive oils. Carb wise, cream of rice is probably one of the most popular, calorie dense foods if you can get it there, more so than oats in terms of how many calories and carbs you’ll get for the amount you’re eating. Potatoes are also great, any kind, I usually stick with mostly sweet potatoes but that’s primarily for taste.
A sample very calorie dense meal would be of 1/2 cup cream of rice, a scoop of whey and 2 TBSP nut butter, or an ounce of nuts.
1/2 Cup Cream of Rice - 320 cals and 72g carbs
Whey - ~100 cals and 25g protein
Nut Butter or Nuts ~ 200 cals and 18g fat
So that’s an easy to eat and digest 600 calorie meal. You could certainly use oats instead of CoR you’d just have to eat a little more to get the same cals and carbs.
Great reply. That sounds amazing, thanks so much - really much appreciated. The only problem is that Cream of Rice isn’t available here and I haven’t really seen any oats either. I may try and use coconut milk instead as it is 1) fresh 2) calorie dense and 3) nutrient dense. It doesn’t take long to make and it is cheap here as coconuts are everywhere.
Thanks again. I will see how this goes!