Is there a correct "order" for eating food types in?

roma2011 · February 2011

I signed up for a 30 day plan with a gym which involves them giving me a food plan and doing three exercises each week. Last night I was chatting to my trainer and he asked me how I was getting on with my plan. I said pretty good, except that while I'm sticking to the food types on the plan, I'm eating them at different times than specified. For example, for breakfast I'm supposed to eat 2 weetabix or equivalent weight in other cereal with skimmed milk, 1 piece fruit, and 1 boiled egg. Later in the day I'm supposed to eat 2 high fibre crackers but there's no mention of eating anything with them. I find the breakfast quite large, and hate dry crackers, so I eat the boiled egg with the crackers later in the day, or else I throw both the crackers and the egg in with my dinner. Obviously there's a lot more food in there than just crackers and eggs, that's just an example from it, I'm supposed to eat 1500 cal per day (not hungry enough though).

I would have thought that eating the foods at any time at all was ok, but my trainer said no. He said the plan has been specifically designed in that order so it'll be more carb heavy in the afternoons and evenings and higher protein in the mornings, and said by way of explanation that "there's a good reason" - so no explanation at all really. I've trawled the threads here and not come across any mention of it. Part of me says just be a good girl and listen and do what he says, but the rest of me says UGH NO DRY CRACKERS PLEASE and to be honest, life just gets in the way! My mealtimes vary every day. I can do my classes at any time of the day so the timing of the foods can't be related to the time I do my exercise at. Are our bodies just better able to deal with carbs in the evenings and proteins in the morning?

Can anyone back him up or explain this a bit further?

_Lisa_ · February 2011

I have heard that protein in the morning kick-starts you metabolism.... never heard anything about the carbs tho

skinnyme125 · February 2011

This is very interesting and I would love to hear what everyone has to say. I have read that their is an order to how you are to eat fruit and some other things. Such as fruit should be 30 min. before any other food and at least 3 hours after any food unless it is cooked in. As fruit passes through the body quickly and if it gets eaten right after other food then it will sit and ferment in your gut and cause gas pain. i have digestive problems so I have to be very careful about my order of food intake. I have a book that explains it all to me you might be interested in. It is called Great taste no pain. Check it out it will explain a lot to you.

ShunkyDave · February 2011

I understand what he's saying, but it's something I've not been able to adhere to personally.

The idea is that your body will metabolize the foods as you're eating them. If you are intaking things your body can use at the time, the nutrients are put to good use. If you don't need them, your body can more easily store the foods (we don't like storage).

Rather than follow everything they're (I've had such plans laid out for me before) recommending, I just embrace the fact that I've made improvements, and rather than eating crap any time of the day, I'm now eating more healthful foods any time of the day. But not after dinner. And only when I'm hungry.

benitocereno · February 2011

Don't want to be a downer, but most trainers have no clue what they're talking about.

Really, thermodynamics work the way they work, more or less it comes down to calories in vs calories out. Macro-nutrient breakdown and ratios matter for preserving muscle and other health-related things (protein > carbs > fat is a pretty standard healthy diet), but I've never seen any evidence to support your trainers claims. It's probably some fad or something that has worked for him in the past, but science doesn't really support it. Unless you're a professional athlete it probably doesn't matter for you.

And, in truth, if you work out in the afternoons/evening you'd want to focus more protein there to support muscle growth and retention. Without knowing your weight and height I can't claim he's correct, but you should probably be eating 1500 net calories a day if that's what he put you on. While most trainers fumble nutrient details (and rightly so if they're not properly educated in them... they're confusing!!), they're usually pretty good about calories.

Your trainer is most likely conflating different information about calorie sources (metabolic digestive order, calorie density by source, satiety of caloric source, etc). If you're going to stick with him and hold him accountable for results you should follow his plan, but to answer your question, no, it probably doesn't matter all that much as long as you're hitting your totals for the day.

I, for one, would never put all of my carbs in the evenings, but that's just me

. I prefer protein-strong evenings since that's when I do most of my working out, and moderate carbs and fat. My biggest meal of the day is always lunch.

If you have more detailed questions I'll try to answer them from what I know

. I take it you're in pure weight-loss mode with your total calories? I'd be interested to know the total ratios he has you on to better judge what he's giving you.

lilmissy2 · February 2011

Sounds ridiculous to me and not very sustainable. I think balance at all meals is the best option - mostly because I think it's more pleasant for us to eat this way but partly to keep your body functioning at it's highest potential. Physiologically speaking though, it doesn't make that much difference across the day as long as your totals are sufficient.

lotrisneat · February 2011

Honestly, I think this is why people get so frustrated with "dieting" and eating healthy and just give up. There's way too much information and theories out there. I mean, a hard boiled egg on a whole wheat cracker is healthy, no matter what time of day you're eating it. I've seen so many questions on here, not just yours, that worry way too much about the details. Your meal plan sounds very healthy and sustainable over the long haul, but only if you're able to give in a little and do some small changes that work for YOU, like eating your egg on your cracker. Or if you're too full for your fruit first thing in the morning, does it really make a difference if you eat it an hour or two later? Do what works for you!

roma2011 · February 2011

Ok, so the food plan is probably a good start for giving the extra info:-
Breakfast - 2 oz cereal w/skimmed milk, 1 portion fruit, 1 organic boiled/poached egg
Snack - 1 portion fruit, 1 low fat plain yoghurt
Lunch - 3 oz fish/poultry/seafood, lots of veg, 1 potato
Snack - 1 oz nuts/seeds, 2 high fibre crackerbread, 1 portion fruit
Dinner - 4 oz lean meat/fish/poultry/seafood, lots of veg, 2 potatoes

Meat = lean beef, not more than twice weekly
Poultry = chicken or turkey
Vegetable portion = tomatoes, broccoli, kale, onion, asparagus, green beans, 1 carrot, 1/2 sweetcorn, green peas, beetroot, 1/4 turnip, pepper, lettuce, brussel sprouts, cucumber, cabbage, celery, parsley
cereals = porridge, all bran, alpen muesli, natural muesli, weetabix, branflakes, raisin bran
fruit portion = 1 apple, 1 pear, 1 orange, 1/2 banana, 4 plums, 10 grapes, 3 dried apricots, 1 kiwi, 1 big slice watermelon, 1/2 small cantaloupe melon, 1 small grapefruit, 1 large punnet of strawberries blackberries or blueberries

I think it's a pretty straightforward and very doable food plan, nothing crazy, just good eating. It was his comment about the food order that threw me because I never heard of that concept before. Plus as far as I can see I'm eating carbs the whole way through the day, but they're just loaded a little more heavily towards the evening. Maybe the egg in the morning is to do with the kickstarting the metabolism theory someone mentioned.

As for me, I'm 30 next month, 75.4kg, 5 ft 8, and very sedentary other than doing three very tough1 hr spin circuit classes per week plus one extra hour of other exercise if I can fit it in. I'm a size 14 UK sizes at the moment and want to be a small size 12 or better still a 10 in time for my wedding in July. Have the dress bought already, it's a 12 but I'd say it's a small 12.

bzmom · February 2011

bump

benitocereno · February 2011

That's interesting, not too restrictive. Does he let you sub in other food in place of the potatoes? Bread instead so you can have a sandwich, etc? I don't know, doesn't seem too crazy outside of the arbitrary rules about what to eat when

. I prefer the MFP way of learning what is in what you chose to eat and balancing it that way, but some people need the structure like your guy is providing to succeed, which is why they get paid. The motivation of being accountable can also help.

I disagree with two potatoes at night (that is a lot of carbs/starches... unless you're talking smaller potatoes and not something like Russets), but the increase in protein at night and limited red meat consumption is good. If you stick with his plan (or any plan really) and watch the calories you're going to fit into that dress!

Also, I have a piece of toast with an over-hard yolk broken egg every single morning, which would probably work for you too if you get tired of cereal. Try plugging in what he gives you to find the Calories/Protein/Carbs/Fat in MFP and see if you can find similar outputs for the same meal so you don't go crazy on the same thing every day

.

roma2011 · February 2011

Yeah I tend to have small potatoes, I find two to be a lot. I meant to ask him about substituting the potatoes for brown rice or wholegrain pasta but I completely forgot, I'll ask next time I'm in with him.

His only other notes about the food are that where possible it should be organic, or wholegrain, and fresh as possible. He also says that if I must use canned produce, then I should completely drain the juice/syrup and also rinse the produce if possible. He further recommends avoiding coffee and black tea, and sticking to herbal tea or plain water instead.

meagalayne · February 2011

Seems ridiculous... The best plan is to do what works for you and what you can stick with over time. If it's not sustainable and it doesn't fit with your life and eating habits, it's not going to work because you aren't going to stick with it over the long haul. End of story. Also, I'm surprised by the dinner -- 2 potatoes is a lot of carbohydrate! And sounds like more than 1500cals/day to me. There is so much carbohydrate they must anticipate that you are doing a lot of cardio on your exercise plan... With all the crackers, cereal, potatoes, and fruit I am surprised. But I digress. Eat when it works for you! And load up on high fiber, low-GI veggies. Sub a sweet potato for the white ones too... Much healthier and way more delicious :bigsmile:

electromg · February 2011

I've always stuck to having protein for breakfast, but in yoga the instructor said that its not good to eat a lot of carbs for dinner...maybe to eat them in the middle of the day. But that's unrealistic to really keep track of, at least for me and my lifestyle. My lunch is whatever I can stuff in my purse

dawnemjh · February 2011

I have a nutritionist who has told me to have the high quality grains (i.e. carbs) in the middle of the day because they will cause a spike in the blood sugar,and that may cause cravings, so if you start the day with them, you may end up wanting to eat more throughout the day. Im not sure what I feel about this. I do feel it is important to pair fruit with a protein and fat like cheese or nuts to help deflect the spike in blood sugar and keep you feeling fuller longer. Maybe this is why they are telling you to eat certain things at certain times???

skinnyme125 · February 2011

breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a paper. Most of us do the opposite. But you are more active during the day so eating bigger meals then seems to make sence. Less active in the evening and so that is when you need less energy there for less food. I just can't seem to get myself up that darn early to make a big breakfast and then prepare a nice big luch to take to work with me. The only time I have to cook in after work when i am home. So the battle continues.

ebgbjo · February 2011

bump- to read later

Is there a correct "order" for eating food types in?

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