Body for Life Nutrition - Diet & Nutrition Message Board

Absinthe · 12-21-2002, 06:54 PM

I have decided to enter the Body for Life challenge starting in January. The plan calls for eating 6 small meals a day. It also encourages consumption of meal supplements. I would prefer to eat real food over a supplement, but am a little worried about preparing all those meals.

Has anyone else done this program? Did you use supplements? What kinds of real food meals did you prepare?

rhody · 12-25-2002, 11:43 AM

I'm not familar with your challenge. But what I try to do is eat natural foods. Now if you had to eat nothing but natural foods (non-processed), that would be a real challenge. Every so often a nice pizza is a temptation

, or some other commercially prepared food.

What's natural foods? They are foods that are found naturally in nature without man-made additives, chemicals, and sweeteners etc. You can find these natural foods generally on the outside edges of a food supermarket.

To eat natural foods one hundred percent means making your own breads etc. from whole grains; eating things like fruits, nuts, seeds, vegetables, meats without adding anything except herbs and spices etc. It can be done but take a lot of time and effort. By eating natural wholesome foods, the vitamins, minerals, and fiber are generally so high, that taking supplements are not usually necessary. Also the calories are generally much lower in relation to the nutritional value, that a person's weight is easier to maintain. This is because you don't feel hungry after feeding the body what it needs - not just "empty" calories that you will find with a lot of processed foods.

rhody · 12-25-2002, 11:51 AM

To also answer your question more directly, one of the real foods that I prepare for myself often, is a multi-grain natural cereal. I grind up flax seed, wheat berries, and brown rice in my Vitamix. After cooking for about a half hour, I mix with bananas (and sometimes blackberries), and milk. I'll have this for dinner, lunch, or breakfast a few times a week.

I consume lots of grains and maintain a good weight - with adequate exercise too. A lot of these grains are whole grains. They are much different than refined grains. Often people eliminate grains, but don't realize the difference that whole grains offer. A person can read up about whole grains on the internet.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!!!

magnolia · 12-26-2002, 12:18 AM

i am in the current competition which ends on the 28th and have entered into the next 12-week round that begins in jan....i have been doing atkins for the past year and continue to do atkins while doing the bfl competition, i just make sure i divide my food up into 6 eating sessions a day...when bfl talks about meal supplements it basically means that you can have an eas carb control protein shake as breakfast when you do not have the time to prepare a meal or after your workout to obtain the necessary proteins, or that you can take one of their supplements after a meal...the requirement with the bfl official challenge is that you must use one of their products and show proof that you have purchased their products when you submit your official entry form at the end of the challenge.... the real foods i eat are the same ones that are on the atkins plan...beef, chicken, fish, eggs, salads, veggies, cream, cheese, berries, nuts, etc....i use the eas carb control protein shakes or the eas carb control protein bars 30-45mins after a workout if i do not have time to prepare food and i take one of their supplements 2-3 times a day after my meals....best wishes to you on the upcoming challenge as it is definately worth the effort!!!!

Absinthe · 12-26-2002, 06:33 AM

Hi Rhody & Magnolia,
Thanks for responding. I was starting to feel ignored.

Rhody, if you would like to learn more about the challenge, you can visit the BodyforLife website. I am doing it partly as motivation and partly 'cause I would like to win something.

One of the requirements of the contest is that I must use at least 1 EAS product. I wanted to use something from the Myoplex line, but they all contain aspartame, which I can't tolerate. I'm going with the AdvantEdge powder instead. (Good protein blend, NO freakin' artificial sweeteners.)

I'm not an Atkins fan, so that is out of the question. I plan on using Bill's guidelines, but will modify slightly so I can work in my daily Latte' fix.

Conceive it...Believe it...Achieve it!