feeling crap for no reason why?

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I went to Aldi today and got some pasta sauces, 6 apples (one a day), some muesli, bacon, sausages, salami, mushrooms, bag of potatoes, basmati rice, loaf of bread with seeds and other things in, some meat sort of like burgers, milk, gravy, pasta in a bag with sauce.

I'd like to bulk buy but I'd not be able to get it home on my bike or carry it on the bus so not possible really.

I'd day I don't eat unhealthily but as you can probably see from what I have posted It's a pretty high carb diet.

I'd have thought a high protein diet would be pretty expensive compared to high carb since it's easy to get lots of carbs.
 

jayce

New Member
Location
south wales
I went out yesterday only done 40 miles and it killed me,dont know why, i do that quite easily ,i felt like sh*t all night ,now i got a pain in my ear ,so i think i got a ear infection, could this be the problem ,off up the docs in morn
 

Blonde

New Member
Location
Bury, Lancashire
willhub said:
I'd like to bulk buy but I'd not be able to get it home on my bike or carry it on the bus so not possible really.
I'd day I don't eat unhealthily but as you can probably see from what I have posted It's a pretty high carb diet. I'd have thought a high protein diet would be pretty expensive compared to high carb since it's easy to get lots of carbs.

It is expensive (relatively), although as I say we are lucky to be able to market shop and get bargains that way. I sympathise with the transporting flood thing. I used to either walk or shop by bike (as I had no car) but it was pretty hard and I never liked leaving my bike in Morrisson's car park. Loading up two full panniers onto it was difficult - it tended to tip the bike over as there was no-where to lean it against to each week I did some kind of bike/bag wrestling to get it all home... Luckilly the shop was only about a mile from where I lived, though I cycled back home at about 8mph - all I could manage up the steep hill with two loaded panniers on! You are limited in what you can get though, if you basically use only one shop.

Your diet doesn't sound dreadfuil, just a bit limited and possibly lacking in vegetables. Pasta is a cheap fller with little nutritional content that's the problem. It's fine if you eat plenty of other stuff too, but if you are relying on wheat based products generally, and not eating a great deal else, the flours used just don't contain much in the way of vitamins or minerals. The quality of the protein you eat is pretty important too. Sausages and salami generally are rather high fat rather than high protein, so, unless you're allergic, eggs might be a better choice and are reasonably cheap. Omlettes are a great way to eat planty of veg too, in fact you can basically srtir fry your veg then add a couple of beaten eggs to stick the veg together, so it's more of a veg fritter than anything else. Veg stir-frys topped with a hard boiled egg or two (intead of tofu) work quite well. You don't have to use expensive veg for stir frys either, white, and red cabbage, greens, carrots and onions all work fine and are cheap ingredients. If you have any Asian or Continental shops nearby (large bags of spices etc and literally 4 to 10 times cheaper than supermarkets) use them for your garlic, soy sauce and some ground spices like ground star anise/anissed and ginger which add interest to stir frys. The colour of food is a clue about the nutritional content. Check out what's in green foods, red foods, orange foods, blue/purple foods etc. A good way to think of it is, the more variety of colour on your plate, the better the variety of vitamins and minerals you are getting on it.

Oily fish such as mackrel, herring and sardines are also fairly cheap (and reasonably plentiful, should you care about that). They're really good sources of protein, and are for sale on most supermarket fish counters. I pay about 80p for four large sardines (enough for one meal) at the market but it may be a bit more than that at a supermarket. It can be anything from 87p to £1.60 for a whole mackrel, depending on weight, but with a large one you can always ask the fishmonger to fillet it and cook/eat over two nights. Dead easy to cook - just fry sardines (a tiny smear of oil is all that is needed as they are oily anyway) or grill. Bung mackrel or herring in oven (in tin covered with foil, or indeed, just wrapped in foil) add a squeeze of lemon/orange juice or juice from a carton over the fish if liked, or you can cover the fish with milk (and add parsley if liked), if you prefer a less "fishy" taste. 20 minutes at around 190 oC for large whole mackrel, less if filleted or smaller.

Sorry to go on, I just love food though! I have learned the hard way that diet is crucial when you're an active person. I used to eat a lot of pasta with a homemade sauce (but still bascially tinned tomotatoes and not much else) and thought this was healthy. Whilst this may work for fairly sedentary folk, it just isn't enough when you are doing any serious training or long mileage and possibly in your case still growing! I grew a whole inch whilst I was at university so it's definitely possible. Hope you can work something out.
 
Do eggs actually contain much protein? Would I be getting plenty of protein eating 1 or 2 eggs a day?

I've bought some apples to eat one a day so I'm trying to be healthy. I've never really ventured into buying meat apart from sausages, I might have a go at fish some time.

Are tinned veg useless? I have quite allot of that :tongue:, don't know what to do with it, I've got an unopened can of chicken gravy.

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Blonde

New Member
Location
Bury, Lancashire
Hmm, tinned veg are OK but it will depend on the quality:
http://www.healthscout.com/ency/1/002095.html

They do tend to lose Vitamin C content in the canning process though. They are also rather salty but will be OK if well washed before use. Sweetcorn often has has sugar added ('cos Tate and Lyle have a deal with most of the food industry menufacturers) so rinse your tinned veg well before using. I must say that canned veg in general, with the notable exceptions of beans and pulses tastes a bit rubbish and often has an odd texture, so if you actually want to enjoy vegetables, I'd really reccommend getting the real thing just from a taste point of view! If you need to use up your stocks of tinned veg, perhaps put them all into a bolognase or chilli type dish. I do use cans of tomatoes for making moussaka and lasagne, chick peas for adding to curries and for making hummus with, as well as buying canned kidney beans, broad beans and butter beans for salads but I just admit that I haven't actually opened one tin of anything for about three months as there is so much wonderful produce on Bolton Market every week that we end up eating just fresh things instead. If you shop at Aldi they are a bit limited for variety of fresh stuff but what's there is decent and they usually have good deals on fruti 'n' veg, like 49p for punnets of soft fruit and their 69p offers on pineapples and butternut squash etc. What's on offer varies from week to week so just get whatever is going cheap that week and find out how to make something with it. The internet has millions of recipes if you're unsure how to cook something, so you really can't go wrong! Most veg cooks really quickly so if you dont want to spend ages in the kitchen just do simple quick meals like stir frys (literally a few minutes to cook). Cabbage is much maligned. Red cabbage in particular is really nice "slow" cooked (chop and leave in frying pan on very low heat with a little butter and a few drops of water fo about 15 minutes just stir every so ofetn so it doesn burn or stick. Perhaps add a few drops of red wine vinegar towards the end and also some ground cinnamon if liked (Aldi sell white white, red wine and balsamic vinegars for a quid). I never boil vegetables as that ruins the taste and texture in my opinion, as well as risking destroying the nutritional content if they end up over-cooked.

RE: Protein content of Eggs:
http://www.enc-online.org/factsheet/EggProtein.pdf
http://www.nutritionandeggs.co.uk/eggs_nutrition/nutrition1.html
http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/egg.html
Basically it depends on egg size, but yep, they are good for you, especially for muscle repair and recovery.

Also yogurt is excllent stuff, and v cheap - about 69p for 500g of low fat live plain yogurt. Use in salad dressings (along with the olive oil, lemon juice, whole grain mustard and honey or any combination therefof), piut a doolop on choped fruit or fruit salad, or just eat (with honey if you liek it sweet). You can use it in curries or even just drink as an Indian Lassi drink - just add water till it reaches a drinkable consistency (and add honey to taste if you like it sweet). You can add other flavourings to Lassi drinks, such as crushed cardomom seeds and chopped pistachio nuts nuts but of course that would add to the cost.
http://www.peter-thomson.co.uk/foodc/_protein_milk_cheese_yogurt.html
http://www.stonyfield.com/Wellness/Protein.cfm

Again, amount of protein per 100g varies depending on type of yogurt. Just read the nutritional info labels when you buy it. Actually the medium to high fat yogurt (such as Greek yogurt) does tend to contain slightly more protein, as does the medium to higher fat milk.

Nutrition and protein for sporting people:
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/spo...round-ensure-optimal-sports-performance-41005
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/weight-loss-can-you-lose-weight-effectively-protein-diet-40884

List of more general articles on sports nutrition: http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/nutrition.htm
...and on cycling: http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/cycling.htm
 

grafter

New Member
eggs have the best form of digestable protein there is for the body. man can't make a better digestable protein. apples are great to lose fat. i eat 3 a day.

it probably overtraining, lack of the right stuff inside you and not enough time to recover, if body short of essentials it wont recover properly and you only realise during next exercise when body tested. doing hard exercise such as cycling uses up alot more essential nutrients. so you need to take more. as you get older body body absorbs less nutrients.

few suggestions. eat regular and lighter meals. dont go long hours without eating anything. increase your vitamins and minerals especially magnesium and zinc which play a major role. increase the b-vitamin family. dont eat veg in cans strictly eat fresh,frozen fruit and veg. eat more protein it will increase essential amino acids and eat the good fats for the body to function right. dried beans and pulses are a great source of protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals. they not a complete protein so eat some veg and meat too like chicken and salmon.

take the amino acid l-glutamine it helps to recover your muscles alot faster. ideally take carbs with protein it will help the uptake of the amino acids. make sure you getting decent sleep and stay away from crap sugar. bodys immune system is weakened alot when you do exercise so take some antioxidants like vitamin c.

recommend to eat oats. snack on sunflower, pumpkin and sesame seeds and increase water intake. great meal for complex carbs is brown rice and peas.

just give the body what it really wants and it will thank you. it can't perform on empty calories(crap food).

one last important thing. eat plenty of carbs regularly during cycling. there is a small window of oppurtunity to replace glycogen to the screaming muscles after exercise. this will recover you faster. so eat a meal of high carbs and protein as soon as possible after the cycling ideally 30-60 mins.
 

Blonde

New Member
Location
Bury, Lancashire
You're right there. I am amazed how many people don't seem to realise the full extent of how what you eat effects your mood, behaviour and blood sugar levels, as well as your general health. There are all sorts of studies about the effacts of foods; how kids concentrate better at school after having breakfast, how diet effects children's brain development and behaviour, how oily fish intake can help combat depression etc.

The quality and type of fuel makes a difference to the engine. Would you put diesel in a F1 car? (Actually that's probably not a good analogy as the fuel used is similar to commercial fuels/petrol, but you get the general idea...)
 

gekko

New Member
There are a number of things that could be going on here. I'm no expert but a couple of things spring to mind.

1. You may actually have some illness. I get the feeling you are trying to discount this but it is a possibility and I do think it's worth a trip to the docs. You are 19 and at an age where glandular fever is not uncommon. I had a virus (similar to glandular fever) in my early twenties and my symptoms were not dissimilar to yours. I felt not quite right for months afterwards. Having said that, these symptoms are quite generic and could indicate lots of things. Related to that, you may have mild depression but you'll no doubt know if that's likely to be the case. For a case of the blues or more mild depression, I've found that taking St. John's Wort helps quite significantly.

2. A few things jumped out at me about your diet. You are eating a lot of processed meat (sausages, bacon, salami) and very little fresh meat. I realise you need to eat cheaply but you would be better off foregoing the bacon etc. and incorporating some chicken into your diet. Also, you really need to eat fish. Even if you don't eat any meat, you need oily fish for the amount of exercise you are doing. Fish is good for the joints and the brain, which as a cyclist and college student are essential. Eat lots of mackerel, which can be bought cheaply and eat salmon too. Next up - vegetables. As someone else on here said, don't boil them as all the goodness goes into the water and very little is retained in the vegetable. This makes canned veg pretty rubbish I'm afraid. Try to steam or roast all your veg and buy fresh. Forget the supermarket - get yourself down the market later in the day when they are flogging off the veg. You'll get it cheaper than canned veg and it'll be so much better for you.

You also need more fruit, more than an apple a day. Try to eat a banana every day too and berries. Berries of course can be expensive but blueberries are superfoods and worth investing in. You can buy frozen berries from the supermarket (check the label to ensure they haven't got added sugar etc.) and use them in smoothies - half a banana, handful of frozen berries, scoop of frozen yoghurt and some orange juice (not from concentrate). Bang these in a blender (a good investment for juices and soups) for 30 secs and you've got a delicious smoothie.

It sounds like you are doing pretty well on the grains and if you aren't already, get some beans in there (aduki, flagelot etc.). Buy these dried in bulk as it's cheaper this way and soak overnight. You have to be organised but you'll save yourself a fortune.

Another bit of advice about preparing food, buy yourself a slow cooker. They are cheap (about £35), you can throw everything in it in the morning and the best part is that all the moisture is contained within the cooker and so you don't lose any of the goodness. Because the food is slow cooked, you can buy cheaper cuts of lamb and beef and they will taste great. Throw in dried beans or pasta to bulk out the casserole and any veg you have in the house (it's a great way to use up veg you don't know what to do with). For sauces, use beef stock, veg stock or tinned tomatoes. Flavour with chilli, tabasco, worcestershire sauce, basil, garlic whatever you have lying around. Make enough so you can take it to college the next day or freeze for later in the month etc. Believe me, this is such an economical way to cook and you'll be getting all the nutrition you need.

I do hope you manage to sort this out as I know how it feels to be tired all the time and feel low. Feed your body some good stuff though and I'm sure it will repay you the favour!
 

ajb

Well-Known Member
Location
North Devon
As said above by Gekko, get checked by the Dr.

My son is 18, last September he began to feel unwell, being the sportsman he is he kept "doing his thing" training hard (he is a racing cyclist)
To cut a long story short he saw the Dr on 3 ocassions between October & Xmas, had blood tests etc & all came back negative, they put it all down to a change of lifestyle,(starting Uni, looking after himself) I didn't agree with this.
Then in January, back at Uni, a couple of his friends went to see him at about 10pm, he apparently "looked awfull" 10.30pm he was in hospital. More tests and 2 months later they said it was Glandular fever, made worse because he kept pushing himself, After total rest for 6 months he is now back on the bike.

What I'm saying is, listen to your body, nobody knows it like you do, If you dont agree with the Dr see another one.

Take care, Alan.
 

Blonde

New Member
Location
Bury, Lancashire
Agree with above, except to say that I did go to the Docs with my yellow skin, low immune health (12 viruses a year) stomach pain/diorhoea, aching limbs and joints, and severe fatigue that did not go away with rest, not even after 15 hours sleep etc, but the initial blood tests found nothing. Well, actually they simply lost my liver function test, so I'll never know the result of that one, but the fact that I visibly had a jaundiced appearance despite not drinking any alcohol may have been significant. My illness seemed to have been caused by excessive stress (over several years) and overtraining, coupled with a poor diet. After the initial period of illness which lasted about 18 months before I got a diagnosis, it then took another 2 years to fully recover (inlcuding supplements, carefully monitoring training and symptoms and following a special diet which included avoiding all sugars and particuarly yeasted products such as bread as this seemed to be a major cause of my stomach problems) . Don't let this happen to you. Try your GP first of course, but if the GP is of no help, apart from to tell you you've got "Post viral fatigue syndrome" which doesn't really mean anything, you may have to start looking at other options, which unfortunately, usually cost money. I must admit that my health only really improved when my financial situation (and diet) changed for the better due to getting a better paid job. Previously I coudn't have afforded to take any tests to find out the cause of the stomach problems but after I paid for the test and started to change my diet I began to get better.
 
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