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Originally Posted by Akira5284  I'm not only looking to manage my diet. I am also currently working on my body being able to handle cardio for extended periods of time. As of now I can only jog about 10 minutes before feeling like falling.
My goal is to work on cardio enough to where I can go for 30min-1hour and then purchase a Heart rate monitor to make my cardio more efficient. |
You may want to get the heart rate monitor now. If you can only go 10 minutes, you may be running at too high an intensity for your current level of fitness. It is possible that you are running at the transition between aerobic and anaerobic intensity, which is too high to do endurance training, but not high enough to get optimal anaerobic sprint training.
Regarding the carbohydrates, fat, and protein ratios, there is probably too much emphasis on the ratios and not enough on the quality of each.
Carbohydrates: choose high fiber carbohydrate foods, like vegetables, whole fruit, legumes, and whole grains. Avoid concentrated sugars and refined carbohydrates like sodas, juices, refined grains, and foods with a lot of added sugar (many cereals and flavored yogurts fall into this category). Avoid fried carbohydrates and carbohydrates used as carriers or absorbers for fat toppings and sauces (for example, eat baked potatoes with salsa instead of cheese and sour cream). An exception to avoiding simple sugars is during and immediately after a long hard workout, when reloading muscle glycogen is desirable.
Fats: avoid hydrogenated vegetable oils. Avoid fried carbohydrates and heavy fat toppings on carbohydrate foods. If you have high LDL cholesterol or other risk factors for atherosclerosis or heart disease, avoid saturated fat. Include some fats that contain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (e.g. fish fat, although limit the types of fish that are high in pollutants like mercury).
Protein: Most protein sources also contain fat and/or carbohydrates. Choose carefully in the context of your fat and carbohydrate intake. Also, make sure that the food contains sufficient protein for your dietary needs, especially if you intend to eat more than 15-20% of calories from protein (as may be the case if you are restricting calories and/or doing heavy weight training). Some foods that are commonly thought of as "protein" may not have very much protein (e.g. hot dogs, pepperoni, most ground beef, most sausages, most cheese, etc.). A high intake of red meat from domesticated animals and processed meat has been found to have a strong link with colon cancer.
