I am thinking of purchasing them, does anyone know are they worth it ?
Are these good nutrition books ?
Started by MrPuppeh, August 24, 2013 · 13 Replies · 4,385 Views
Never heard of any of them. Buy them, read them and decide is my best advice.
Read the first one. Wasn't anything too amazing. Protein and carbs basically improve recovery. That's the gist.
hmm, gona need some more opinions
Tip 1: buy this. http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Sports-Nutrition-2nd-Edition-Benardot/dp/1450401619/ref=pd_cp_b_1
Tip 2: Do not buy nutrition books that are more than 5 years old. This means you have to check dates of publication.
Joshua Naterman said:(...) Do not buy nutrition books that are more than 5 years old. This means you have to check dates of publication.
............or buy some that are 60+ years old... they'll give you my grandmother's advice which was: Have a good breakfast, eat your veggies, then more veggies, 3 times a day, every day; do not eat between meals, except after training; fish on Fridays, and Mondays and Wednesdays too... and a roast on Sundays. 
Whenever possible, drink water instead of beer.
FredInChina said:............or buy some that are 60+ years old... they'll give you my grandmother's advice which was: Have a good breakfast, eat your veggies, then more veggies, 3 times a day, every day; do not eat between meals, except after training; fish on Fridays, and Mondays and Wednesdays too... and a roast on Sundays.
Whenever possible, drink water instead of beer.
I will mildly suggest that whole the gist of this post is good, there's a whole lot of room for improvement in the 3 times per day thing. You don't need an old book for that.
Old people know more than we tend to think they do. Nonetheless, when you are looking for research-based nutrition, you should read books that are very, very current. Benardot's book meets that criteria.
The other aspect of choosing a book is to see if the author grounds their recommendations in known bioenergetics, such as how the body uses different ratios of macros during different activities. Sometimes that requires buying the books, but in this case I can tell you that Benardot's book meets this as well.
Finally, if you're looking for performance nutrition... well, it's important to read the words of someone who has worked with a large, large volume of athletes across different sports, OR to read an author who has consistently used nutrition to achieve better than average results in a sport with multiple athletes.
As it so happens, Benardot's book also meets those criteria. In short, if you:
A) are an athlete
and
B) do not own this book,
then...
you are not doing everything you can to enhance your performance and training results. This book should be considered mandatory reading for every athlete who wants the best edge they can get.
Is it perfect? Damn close, if you're looking for better performance.
You are going to find out that you need a lot of extra study to understand EVERYTHING in the book, but you can learn what you need to know in terms of practical application without much extra knowledge.
I just got this book and it is good. I obviously do not have enough carbs. I tried increasing my intake today and only got 450g. At 93 kg and my current activity level it seems like I need more like 600g. That target seems like too much considering how full I feel today.
Mark Collins said:I just got this book and it is good. I obviously do not have enough carbs. I tried increasing my intake today and only got 450g. At 93 kg and my current activity level it seems like I need more like 600g. That target seems like too much considering how full I feel today.
Don't make the jump all at once. It takes time for your body to adjust how it handles the food. A 3-4 week transition time is probably the easiest. Go slowly, and try to mix in something like a half cup of beans with whatever your other starches are so that you still have a good bit of fiber and thus a more even absorption of the carbs. I would also make sure they stack up more around your activity times. Are you doing a lot of endurance activity, or sprint repeats, or what?
I go through 350-ish, and I should be at 450-500 for my activity level (which is currently pretty low due to all the studying).
I am doing my Foundation and handstand twice a week in the mornings. My evening workouts are usually high intensity Crossfit metcons and some olympic lifting which takes no more than one hour.
I feel like 400g a day is plenty, but I have never tried much higher. I was eating a diet with around 200g of carbs and a lot more fat and protein. I went this way as I react to too much wheat. In Australia we have wheat dominated diet. So now I am eating a lot more rice to get the carbs in.
Joshua Naterman said:Don't make the jump all at once. It takes time for your body to adjust how it handles the food. A 3-4 week transition time is probably the easiest. Go slowly, and try to mix in something like a half cup of beans with whatever your other starches are so that you still have a good bit of fiber and thus a more even absorption of the carbs. I would also make sure they stack up more around your activity times. Are you doing a lot of endurance activity, or sprint repeats, or what?
I go through 350-ish, and I should be at 450-500 for my activity level (which is currently pretty low due to all the studying).
no wonder I was getting chunky so quickly...how gradual would you make it?
my target carb intake is around the neighborhood of 360 carbs based on 5g of carbs per kg of BW.
quarter increments per week seem reasonable? because I keep getting this yo-yo effect of not eating enough and then from that deficit, i noticed that i've slept longer reducing the opportunity to intake calories with the proper spacing(i've been shooting for 2.5-3hrs) and it really needs to stop because i can feel it in my recovery or lack there-of from the higher volume work.
edit: or would you recommend just starting with that amount of carbs(360g) and stay consistent with it for the two weeks?
KeilaniG said:no wonder I was getting chunky so quickly...how gradual would you make it?
Joshua Naterman said:A 3-4 week transition time is probably the easiest. Go slowly, and try to mix in something like a half cup of beans with whatever your other starches are so that you still have a good bit of fiber and thus a more even absorption of the carbs. I would also make sure they stack up more around your activity times.
Start where you were, and make small adjustments. You could do it 30g, or one cup of rice, per week if you want to. See what feels good to you.
Details like this are fairly individual in nature, but you could always try dividing the difference between the 360 and whatever you were getting into 4 parts, and adding one part every two weeks, if you want a general strategy.
Example: If you were getting 160 before, but really seem to need more like 360, the difference is 200. Solution: add 50g of carbs to the daily intake once every two weeks.
Week 1/2: 210g
Week 3/4: 260
Week 5/6: 310
Week 7/8:360
You may find that you notice no difference between 310 and 360, and if so it's up to you which to stick with. These are general guidelines, and will always be adjusted to each person based on needs.
You will carry more water, and you need that water. Dehydrated cells do not properly synthesize proteins.
Joshua Naterman said:Start where you were, and make small adjustments. You could do it 30g, or one cup of rice, per week if you want to. See what feels good to you.
Details like this are fairly individual in nature, but you could always try dividing the difference between the 360 and whatever you were getting into 4 parts, and adding one part every two weeks, if you want a general strategy.
Example: If you were getting 160 before, but really seem to need more like 360, the difference is 200. Solution: add 50g of carbs to the daily intake once every two weeks.
Week 1/2: 210g
Week 3/4: 260
Week 5/6: 310
Week 7/8:360
You may find that you notice no difference between 310 and 360, and if so it's up to you which to stick with. These are general guidelines, and will always be adjusted to each person based on needs.
You will carry more water, and you need that water. Dehydrated cells do not properly synthesize proteins.
excellent. I'll give that a whirl starting today. could my interpretation of "chunky/fluffy" be more my inexperienced eye with the water retention? because i did notice that my "20lbs of muscle in 6 months" was a little bold because i did pick up a bit of BF along with the lean mass and mass gains like with only PE1 work would just be...idk, to my inexperienced ears, kind of crazy(for a person my age 24)....maybe i miscalculated the degree of my malnutrition.
thank you a lot for all these tidbits, sometimes im at a loss of what to ask because i don't know exactly what im looking for, a hindsight that doesn't currently exist with physical preparation, on the other hand, there still exists a lot of new questions and concepts to wrap my head around. back to finishing Dan Bernardo's books.
I've been hitting up around 80-130g of carbs( when im not on the ball) when I am it fluctuates, but i've already zero'ed in on when i need to do grocery runs, actually put a reminder to eat, because that right now is my biggest issue; just stopping what im doing or pre-pack my foods before i hit the road.
This week I have recovered a lot better and feel stronger with the higher carbs. I have had around 400g carbs a day with less fat and protein.