Only Rice and Chicken?

I went to a workshop today. It was kind of a cross fit/gymnastics thing.


However, there were some incredible guys doing amazing stuff like perfect planches, manna etc. Three of them were former gymnasts in Russia.


They talked about diet and said they always only ate 4 things: Rice, Eggs, Chicken and Vegetables of all sorts.
They still eat like that. The same amount of rice, egg and chicken everyday. Veggies vary, but they try to keep it as colourful as possible. 

Along with that, they allow themselves 3 snacks per day, which can either be a piece of fruit, coffee, a small yoghurt or ice cream or whatever.

Is it good or bad to eat only those 4 things per day?

so, all kinds of vegetables and they vary the vegetables regularly?   That sounds like more than 4 things.

 Works pretty well for Bodybuilders. It will probably be my life come August. I'm not looking forward to it, I'd rather just eat liquid meals predominantly than the same old stuff every day.

It's very possible that those were the only food choices they had and are just used to them.

It mostly a matter of right amount of calories and carb protein fat balance.

What's so great about rice? I never got that. Wouldn't it be healthier to eat things like quinoa or sweet-potatoes for carbs?

have you bought quinoa?   rice is like 1/4 of the price.

 

sweet potatoes will always taste like sweet potatoes.   grains are much more flavor neutral, so you can adjust the flavor to match the spicing style of the other foods you're eating.    Also, portion control is much easier with grains.

I agree. I just thought that there might be some nutritionwise advantage that I was not aware of.

There is nothing wrong with rice and potatoes.

Chinese apparently are big on rice boosting insulin which is of benefit to weightlifters and recovery according to Kirksman of LiftHard. Translation is rough.

Bodybuilders eat rice with no regrets.

Quinoa is apparently way more calorie dense, 3x the calories of rice and WAY more protein. 10g/fat per serving compared to nil with sweet potatoes, rice, or potatoes. It's probably an issue of price and availability in other countries since it would have to be imported from S America. Sweet potatoes just have lower carbs and calories per serving than regular BLESSED HOLY potatoes so it's why they have become so popular with diets (and CF/Zone/Low-Carb).


 

Calories in rice and quinoa are actually about the same. Rice has a little more carbs and a little less fat than quinoa as you correctly said. Sweet potatoes on the other hand are about 1/4 of the calories of rice or quinoa which means I can eat 400g of sweet potatoes instead of 100g of rice to basically get the same nutritional values. And that's exactly why I love them

A tip I learnt whilst sharing accommodation for the Stroud seminar: microwave a sweet potato for 6 minutes, then add butter. Yum!

(You'd also have to slice the skin/ fork it before cooking, otherwise it will explode  )