Nutrition

My eating habits have improved tremendously since moving to Kamloops. It has helped that I am not drinking and in turn going to Redners and eating a 12 inch sub at 2:30 in the morning with Kevin and Ner. Although, I do miss going to Redners. Anyway, since I have little to no money I cannot buy any junk food and funnel any extra money into buying very high quality, high calorie, high protein and high fat foods. This has in turn sparked solid recovery from training and so far a subtle change in my body composition.

I joined a co-op here in Kamloops and it is fairly cheap and extremely helpful. All of the food is locally grown around the Kamloops area (as close as it can be) and is brought to the co-op center. I place my orders every week and then when I arrive at the center they provide me with all of my order and the transaction is made. It is extremely convenient and I enjoy knowing that I am supporting local and sustainable agriculture as most of the food is organically grown or on a chemical based pest management program...not a pest prevention program. The people are very friendly and know a decent amount about food.

Here is a list of what I eat. Keep in mind that chicken is fairly expensive up here and I am almost certain that salmon comes at a lower price than chicken.

Weekly consumption:
7 - 10 Pounds of beef/lamb. All of these products are grass fed. Grass fed livestock is extremely healthy and loaded with essential fatty acids. These fatty acids have definitely lowered my body fat and aided in my recovery from the intense workouts. I usually consume about a pound of beef or a pound of lamb a day.
Salmon: I have been averaging about half a salmon a week. I only get wild salmon because it is high in omega's and high in protein. Good for me but because of pollution I try and avoid eating a lot each week.
Free Run Eggs: generally about 21-25 eggs a week
Butter: I use about a 1/4 pound of butter a week. I enjoy eating my butter with rye bread and honey or throwing it on my toast.
Coconut Oil: I cook/fry most of my food with coconut oil. It is much healthier than EVOO and I do not use as much of it when I cook.
Beans: I eat about 12 servings of beans a week. I have locally grown black turtle beans and red beans from this Spanish guy that resemble the Asian Azuki bean. Beans provide me with extremely good nutrition.
Quinoa: This is one of the few grains that I eat during the week. Quinoa is known as a supergrain and is really the best grain that the human body can eat. Many nutritionists have suggested that if you are going to eat grains, you should eat quinoa. It is a high calorie, high protein grain and it is extremely cheap. It is almost always grown organically and native to Latin and South America. I usually cook about 6-8 servings at the beginning of the week and then eat it throughout the week. I will heat it up in my pan and put seasonings or butter on the quinoa. Goes well with beans and hamburgers. It is also great for recovery becuase it has all the essential amino acids.
Rye Bread: My rye bread comes from a local guy and it is made with very solid ingredients. It could be better made but it still tastes good. This is the other grain I eat during the week. I will eat my bread with honey and peanut butter or I will put butter and honey on top of it. I also like to toast my bread in butter in my pan and then put an egg in and connect the bread with the egg.
Honey: I bought tons of raw honey from this woman and it is extremely good. I love it and probably eat too much of it. Mr. B loves honey and he also suggested that we eat a fair amount of it. It is my only form of a sweet that I eat in a week, aside from apples.
Garlic: Stamm can vouch for me...I eat way too much garlic. I love it. I eat it with everything.
Olives: I buy olives stuffed with garlic and soaked in a sea salt brine. They are quite good.
Hot Peppers: I usually eat about 5-10 hot peppers a week. I add in with my eggs or meats.
Cheeses: My cheeses vary from week to week. Feta one week, sharp cheddar or cream the next. They are all good and good for me.
Apples: I buy my apples from a local guy. They are good and I eat them in the morning before my paper route. Occasionally I put peanut butter on them.
Peanut Butter: I buy this at Cosco. It is a large bin of organic peanut butter. It is real peanut butter. The only ingredient is peanuts. It is not like shitty Jiff where peanut butter has 10 ingredients and is awful for you.
Salsa: I have eaten all of Chiyo's Amazing Salsa. I cry now because I ate it all. Instead I put basil on everything.
Red and Blue Potatoes: I eat these potatoes. About one a day. Good source of Vitamin B. I have blue potatoes now from a local guy. They are awesome. I either make twice baked, I bake them or I just fry them up all cut up. They are a good addition to any meal.
Veggies: Depending on the week, I will eat a ton of carrots or some other root veggie or throw in some sweet peppers. I also buy an organic veggie mix that I drink a serving a day. Tastes good and is loaded with everything.

This is basically what I eat every week, throughout the week. I have only eaten out once since Chris left and that was at an Indian place. I have stuck by my solid nutrition and it has definitely helped. I have maintained my weight and my recovery from training is superb, I also get about 6-8 hours of sleep a night. I try to take a nap before my second practice and that also helps with recovery. My nutrition was ruined as of late because my mom (Chiyo) sent me a load of cookies and my landlord provided me with Halloween candy. Although I will not go out of my way to buy these things, of course I devoured them all, haha. One day I believe I had 18 cookies. Quite impressive, I must say. Oh well, the faster I ate them the faster I could get back on track. Haha.

In regards to supplements. The only supplement I take is NO-Xplode. It is basically a legal stimulant to take prior to training. It gets you amped up big time to train but has no recovery agents so a good nutrition is very helpful. I only take NO about two times a week. One of the other shot putters works for a nutrition company and I had used some of his stuff a few times but my body could not keep it down. I would basically piss it right out my butt everytime I tried it. Also, Dr. B despised protein powders of any sort and claims Alexeev hated them as well. Why eat fake protein when you can buy real protein and your body uses it much more efficiently? Here is a link to Alexeev, the beast Russian Superheavyweight. http://www.chidlovski.net/liftup/l_athleteResult.asp?a_id=5

I definitely feel that a solid nutrition is key to living a healthy and happy life and it is also key to supporting a healthy environment. Most of the locally grown food is grown with the environment in mind as well as the consumer. You may spend a bit more in price but it is well worth it because your body is healthier and so is the surrounding area. Sustainable agriculture is going to be a key part of saving the environment in the future and providing people with healthy alternatives. Eat grass fed beef or grass fed anything. It is the best way for your body. Look it up.

Here is an interesting nutrition link below based on obesity and the link to cancer (and shitty refined, processed foods). http://uk.news.yahoo.com/pressass/20071031/tuk-new-report-links-obesity-to-cancer-6323e80_1.html