To me, the argument between high carb (60-65% of the day’s calories) & very low carb (<25%) diets is an exercise in futility. A lot of us might do better eating in between those extremes — even if those extremes work well for some people. For my part, I’m eating more protein & less carbs than seem to be standardly recommended by the big health honchos like the American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association, or the USDA — about 45-50% carbohydrates, 25-30% proteins, & the rest “good” fats. Right now its working.
I have a hard enough time getting the amount of protein I’m getting, because I’m not by lifelong habit a big eater of protein. But the bigger difficulty for me is just making sure I’m getting that protein in every one of these 5 meals a day I’m now eating. I’ve been managing this week, but I want to get it down more to habit instead of having to think so much about it.
Five meals a day (per Venuto’s advice in Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle): I’ve taken to calling it “the Healthy Hobbit plan.” Like Pippin in the movie of Fellowship of the Ring — “What about second breakfast? What about elevensies” [Merry:] “I don’t think he’s heard of elevensies, Pip.” And then Aragorn throws an apple that hits Pippin in the forehead.
So: I eat first breakfast, second breakfast, first lunch, second lunch, & dinner — which is actually the smallest meal. But all the meals average in the area of 300 calories.
