Chicken, Broccoli, and Rice

[nicksaiz65]

Just curious: has anyone on here had any success with the super “clean eating” bro model on here? The 5-6 small meals a day from Tupperware, chicken rice and broccoli, and so on. What were your experiences on it?

I tried that diet model in the past and it was literally impossible to stick to. I would inevitably end up binging and undo any progress I made.

When I ditched the clean eating for IIFYM, and started intermittent fasting, everything changed. It was pretty dang easy to stick to the diet. Only tracking calories and protein makes it even easier to follow.

Just wondering if anyone still follows the old “bro” style of eating.

 

[HaleyBaron]

It's a boring way to eat. But one thing I found is that I never felt bloated or anything when I ate it. But I don't get my heart racing either like I do when I eat grilled steak. Clean eating is weird, honestly. It's like you are neutral energy wise, but it's not like anything is happening either. How do I put it...it's like being inside a house with the windows open letting the sun in across your clean counter and tiled floor with some grass outside with the sprinklers on. But there's no life to it.

 

[SargeMaximus]

Chicken affects my rosacea badly. They feed regular chicken soy and free run chicken is too expensive for me

 

[Modern Man Advice]

Just curious: has anyone on here had any success with the super “clean eating” bro model on here? The 5-6 small meals a day from Tupperware, chicken rice and broccoli, and so on. What were your experiences on it?

I tried that diet model in the past and it was literally impossible to stick to. I would inevitably end up binging and undo any progress I made.

When I ditched the clean eating for IIFYM, and started intermittent fasting, everything changed. It was pretty dang easy to stick to the diet. Only tracking calories and protein makes it even easier to follow.

Just wondering if anyone still follows the old “bro” style of eating.

Not sure about that specific diet but I do believe at least in meal prepping.

In my experience, being intentional with your meals is critical to your overall health. I used to eat without reason or rhyme, and it showed in my physical performance (I'm an athlete and compete). It was also very time-consuming, and time is valuable to me.

I do not mind eating the same meal every day, but that might be different for some. For me, a nicely seasoned chicken, with broiled sprouts, brown or basmati rice, sauteed sliced red/orange/yellow peppers, and yams is a solid meal. I like it and do not get bored of it. My health is in optimal condition and it takes me about 2 hrs on Sun to meal prep 7 lunches. Then every week I just change either my protein or veggies so it's not the same every week (that would be a bit boring).

At night I just do some baby spinach salad with chicken and avocado.

Tip: You can also meal prep your breakfast. I do an overnight oats and chia seeds pudding. In the morning I just slice some fruit, put some granola, and pour some honey and I'm good to go.

At the end of the day, diets are so personal, and what works for some might not work for others. But regardless, I do believe in being intentional with your nutrition. Especially if you are an athlete and compete.

Modern Man Advice

 

[nicksaiz65]

The best way to stick to this is to use different sauces.

Yeah man the sauces realllly help out in eating lots of chicken every day. Because I do Intermittent Fasting, I have room for lots of sauces. I don’t mind spending my calories even on the full fat sauces to make it taste really fricking good.

 

[EyeBRollin]

Chicken, rice and broccoli is unnecessary. It’s fine as a go to but there are plenty of alternatives. Fish has more and higher quality protein than chicken. Steak is tastier. Potatoes have plenty of variety and nutrition as a carb source. The key to a balanced diet is variety.

 

[Xenom0rph]

Fans of More Plates More Dates will understand that "Chicken, Broccoli and Rice" is a code word for hopping on the sazoole.... it simply isn't a sustainable diet model.

 

[Zimbabwe]

Unless your competing to become the next mr Olympia you really don't need to be eating clean every single day. Just relax and enjoy your diet without having to worry too much about counting carbs or getting all your macros.

 

[mjb3617]

I tried the whole chicken/broccoli/rice thing when I first started lifting and losing weight. Boring AF. Now I have a variety of foods I eat that help me achieve my macros for the day.

 

[FlexpertHamilton]

Nah that old broscience meme eating style is a ****ing joke.

First, it seems pretty clear at this point, IM fasting is objectively better in every way than eating multiple meals a day.

Typical chicken you buy from a grocery store is garbage - chickens are literally nothing more than a cash crop at this point. They're pumped full of hormones and corn syrup, how can that be healthy?

I'm not sure about carbs, there are some native populations that live off of mostly carbs such as potatoes, and they seem perfectly healthy.

However with vegetables, I'm not convinced they're necessary, and I've heard a couple of good reasons to avoid them completely (check out Shawn Baker and Paul Saladino, both MDs). Fruits are probably a better choice.

Stick with IM fasting. Eating "clean" has lost all meaning because people only pay attention to macros and calories. You need to avoid all refined grains, sugar, trans fats, vegetable oils, and eat more saturated fat from animal sources. Grass fed meats and organs like liver are literally the healthiest thing you can eat and should make up most of your meals.

 

[HaleyBaron]

Nah that old broscience meme eating style is a ****ing joke.

First, it seems pretty clear at this point, IM fasting is objectively better in every way than eating multiple meals a day.

Typical chicken you buy from a grocery store is garbage - chickens are literally nothing more than a cash crop at this point. They're pumped full of hormones and corn syrup, how can that be healthy?

I'm not sure about carbs, there are some native populations that live off of mostly carbs such as potatoes, and they seem perfectly healthy.

However with vegetables, I'm not convinced they're necessary, and I've heard a couple of good reasons to avoid them completely (check out Shawn Baker and Paul Saladino, both MDs). Fruits are probably a better choice.

Stick with IM fasting. Eating "clean" has lost all meaning because people only pay attention to macros and calories. You need to avoid all refined grains, sugar, trans fats, vegetable oils, and eat more saturated fat from animal sources. Grass fed meats and organs like liver are literally the healthiest thing you can eat and should make up most of your meals.

You must eat the strong to be strong, an old motto. Though liver, I really do need to try again. But at the same time I am not in a rush. I think I get enough iron from all the steak I eat.

 

[rjc149]

I eat pretty clean during the week, I "cheat" on weekends -- although I don't consider it cheating, I consider it living a balanced and enjoyable life.

Overly restrictive diets are contrived, miserable, pointless, unhealthy, and not sustainable unless you're Tom Brady or have some medical reason to forbid yourself from eating cheeseburgers, pizza, frankfurters, fries, and cookies every once in a while like a normal person.

If you follow you workout routine 100% of the time (never skip or have "cheat days" from the gym) you only need to eat clean 80% of time. If you keep that 20% on weekends and coincide those days with hard workouts, you'll be fine.

 

[rjc149]

I would advise against this mindset. You should listen to your CNS.

Note that I don’t mean “never take days off from exercising.” I mean that if you have a workout routine of, say, 4-6 days at the gym, stick to that routine. Take rest days as needed, but my advice is to be more disciplined with exercise than with diet. For me, food is a huge component of enjoying life and I make allowances to eat “unhealthy” food a few meals per week.

 

[Dust 2 Dust]

Just be tall and eat pizza.

 

[Zimbabwe]

I'm not sure about carbs, there are some native populations that live off of mostly carbs such as potatoes, and they seem perfectly healthy.

Carbs are what give us energy to stay alive, people who go on low carb diets have trouble sleeping most nights. There is a lot of misinformation about carbs on the internet.

Overly restrictive diets are contrived, miserable, pointless, unhealthy, and not sustainable unless you're Tom Brady or have some medical reason to forbid yourself from eating cheeseburgers, pizza, frankfurters, fries, and cookies every once in a while like a normal person.

Exactly, it also makes going out with people a pain since you can't eat anything.

 

[FlexpertHamilton]

Carbs are what give us energy to stay alive, people who go on low carb diets have trouble sleeping most nights. There is a lot of misinformation about carbs on the internet.

Yes, a lot of keto zealots thought carbs were literally poison. Cmon people. Refined/processed flours and sugars are certainly bad, but I see nothing wrong with stuff like potatoes, wheat, oats, or fruits. There is validity to using fat as the sole source of fuel, but it makes more sense to be metabolically flexible and switch back and forth between glycogen and ketones for fuel.

Afaik carbs actually release serotonin while keto diets increase stress hormones like cortisol and norepinephrine. Not sure its a worthwhile tradeoff. It definitely impacted my sleep.

 

[nicksaiz65]

Nah that old broscience meme eating style is a ****ing joke.

First, it seems pretty clear at this point, IM fasting is objectively better in every way than eating multiple meals a day.

Typical chicken you buy from a grocery store is garbage - chickens are literally nothing more than a cash crop at this point. They're pumped full of hormones and corn syrup, how can that be healthy?

I'm not sure about carbs, there are some native populations that live off of mostly carbs such as potatoes, and they seem perfectly healthy.

However with vegetables, I'm not convinced they're necessary, and I've heard a couple of good reasons to avoid them completely (check out Shawn Baker and Paul Saladino, both MDs). Fruits are probably a better choice.

Stick with IM fasting. Eating "clean" has lost all meaning because people only pay attention to macros and calories. You need to avoid all refined grains, sugar, trans fats, vegetable oils, and eat more saturated fat from animal sources. Grass fed meats and organs like liver are literally the healthiest thing you can eat and should make up most of your meals.

I’ve heard arguments that if you do IF you’re not taking full advantage of muscle protein synthesis, therefore it is not optimal.

But imo, if you can’t stick to the freaking diet, then it is definitely not optimal lol. Eating every 2-3 hours is such a pain in the ass

 

[rjc149]

Low carb = low testosterone. This is irrefutable scientific fact proven with countless studies. You need carbs to exercise. You need them for proper endocrine function. You need them to keep cortisol in check. You need them for proper brain function, body function, and mood maintenance. You need carbs.

The ideal carb fuel sources for T are potatoes, rice and corn. Grains are 2nd tier, but still fine as long as they are whole grain. I eat all of them.

Keto dieting and generally depriving yourself of any macronutrient for a lean physique is feminine behavior. Women are by nature less biologically apt for vigorous physical activity (not out hunting, fighting, and protecting) and maintain proper body fat primarily through diet and portion control. Fad diets are targeted toward, and mainly intended, for women.

You need to moderate carb intake in order to prevent excess body fat storage, but they are necessary for an active, healthy lifestyle (which you should all have).

If you notice a slight paunch developing, maybe you're a little rounder in the cheeks, spend more time doing cardio, less time worrying about your carb intake.

 

[speed dawg]

Eating 5 meals a day is only necessary if you want to add serious mass, and you can even do that by eating 3 meals. Arnold said it best, 5 meals worked for him because he was not a big eater in general. He needed the calories, because he was lifting the hell out of weights all the time.

However, the food choices you quote are not bad. Obviously, if you eat proper portions of chicken, broccoli and rice for 3 meals a day, you'll become pretty lean and healthy. Many bodybuilders do things like this, in order to keep it simple. The keys here is the clean protein, minerals from the vegetables and the energy from the carbs. You'll get the fat from the meat or if you cook the the vegetables in olive oil, whatever. Get you some avocado or flaxseed, etc., not rocket science. You can vary the foods, add steak, fish, whatever. I like to add some fruits in there, especially in the morning, for the vitamins and fiber.

I generally keep these things in thirds. Then, according to your goals, up the percentage of one or the other.

Intermittent fasting doesn't work for me, but I do it sometimes because I don't like eating breakfast. But I've seen no noticeable improvement in anything due to that. Maybe it works for other guys.

I've read some people talk about food combining, basically do not mix protein and carbs. Never saw any appreciable benefit from that either, but I do it at times to cut calories.

 

[HaleyBaron]

The problem with the food industry and studies on them is that a lot of it is politically and financially motivated. Medical industry is a large market, so there is not much incentive to have people to stop eating certain foods. This goes double in America where we have the government literally paying to feed crap to kids. Public school food is one of the worst stuff you can eat, for example. Your body is very good about telling you what to eat and what is good or bad for you. Your eyes and tongue, too. So all these science and articles are never consistent because of these factors. But I think the best diets are the ones that healthy people followed, especially those of athletes. If they lived good and don't show any problems, they're likely the better inspiration. You want to learn how to play basketball, you watch the best players. Same for what food to eat. Don't think on it too much. Just try the palettes out until you get down a good list that you prefer. Food is a lot about preference, too.