My "diet" philosophy

Sorry for the cross-post on this but I thought it was appropriate in this forum as well...

I've had a few questions about my nutrition lately so I figured I'd post a quick general description of my "diet" philosophy. I say "diet" because it's really part of my lifestyle...although I have used South Beach and CKD diets for short periods to drop body fat quickly.

My current nutrition is the result of a few years of educating myself and then looking carefully at the foods I buy to make sure they really are what they appear. You'd be surprised how many things say "whole wheat" but the first ingredient is enriched flour. Always look for unbleached whole wheat flour as the main ingredient in breads and wheat pasta. Also, cereals can be very misleading. The label may say "whole grain" or something similar but that ends up being only minor ingredients and the primary things are sugar, corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup (the devil), and processed grains. Okay, that was a slight tangent but it gets to my point that you can't necessarily trust the main label without checking the ingredient list and nutrition data on the back. Anyway, I'm basically on a modified bodybuilder diet. It's higher in protein than most other athletes and higher in carbs than a bodybuilder because of all the long training sessions we do as triathletes. I basically keep 4 things in mind...

1) only whole grain and low GI carbs (aside from race nutrition and workout recovery)...whole wheat breads and pasta, brown rice, whole grain cereal, sweet potatos...those are my staples. Fruits and veggies are all fair game even though fruits contain a lot of sugars...they are unprocessed natural sugars and much healthier than the refined white stuff. Also, I steam all of my fresh veggies...boiling leaches away the good stuff.

2) don't avoid fats...good fats are your friend and can actually help you burn body fat...olive oil, flax oil, nuts, all natural peanut butter, salmon. I'm about 7% body fat right now and I've been eating 100-150g of fat per day...30-40% of my calories.

3) at least 2g of protein per kg of body weight per day...for me (168lbs) that's 150g protein minimum. I'd suggest at least 1.5g for most actively training people. Lots of good sources...chicken, lean pork, lean beef, fresh fish (salmon has lots of good fats), milk (2% or skim), low fat cheese, yogurt (I prefer Carb Countdown brand because it is lower sugar and higher protein compared to regular yogurt), eggs (a few whites and one yolk), canned white albacore tuna (I eat a lot of tuna), protein powder (check out the Optimum Nutrition products on DPSnutrition.com for a quality product at good prices in bulk), protein bars (I really like Detour, U-Turn, and Joy Ride bars...lots of protein and not too much carbs).

4) don't restrict yourself too much...enjoy the things you like (in moderation). Like I said, I don't really view the way I eat as a "diet"...it's just part of my lifestyle. I really enjoy the foods that make up the bulk of my diet...brown rice, chicken, salmn, tuna, nuts, whole wheat bread/pasta, lots of steamed veggies, lots of fresh fruit, spinach salads...I don't feel like I HAVE to eat chicken again, I want it. But I also don't completely avoid "junk" food because it tastes GOOD and makes me happy. Cold Stone ice cream, salty potato chips, beer, a big greasy burger, hot wings...I eat them all in moderation and try to adjust the rest of my diet that day to accomodate the extra calories if I expect to let loose a little.

Finally, I use FitDay.com to help me keep track of everything and make sure I'm not blowing over my daily requirements.  I'll even adjust what I eat through the day if it looks like my any of my macronutrients are too high/low.

Well, that's the basics I've established for myself...hopefully it is useful to some of you in establishing your own healthy lifestyle diet.