Monday, September 19, 2011

"Chicken" protein and food

I broke into some chicken flavored TVP (made from soy flour that has had the soy oil extracted. It is cooked under pressure, then extruded and dried.)that I have from Shelf Reliance. I wanted to make some rice and chicken for lunch yesterday but didn't have any chicken. I'm a glutton for protein and 1/4 cup of the TVP has 11 grams of protein. It smelled like bacon, so I kept checking the label to make sure I didn't actually grab the bacon... nope it still said chicken. It had the consistency of bacon bits , smelled like bacon bits and honestly tasted like bacon. To be fair I did rinse it a few times to reduce the sodium (520mg per 1/4 cup) so I'm sure I washed the taste away.
4 cups of rice, 1 cup of TVP and a little bit of hot sauce made a big bowl of lunch in 15 minutes. It didn't taste bad and it's cheaper than real chicken.

There are a lot of articles about food, calories, and eating in a long term SHTF situation. Everyone should try to figure out what type of nutritional requirements you and your family will need. Rice and beans will keep you alive but it won't keep you healthy. Most people I talk to have no idea what a body needs on a regular day, even those who are doing moderate exercise or going to the gym and playing with a little bit of weight.

My protein intake replaces what my body consumes while I'm running so I don't lose muscle mass and it helps me recover once I'm done running. Optimal for me would be 70% carbs, 30% protein. I'm eating 3500+ calories a day it's really hard to just get the calories in since I always feel guilty when I'm stuffing my face thinking back when I weighed around 265 pounds. I also worry a lot about my electrolyte level since I sweat a lot when I work out (so much when I wipe the sweat out of my eyes the salt crystals hurt), and of course there is staying hydrated. I'm fortunate I don't have health problems that I have to deal with or else I might go crazy trying to keep all this stuff together.

Here is my food so far today: 2 cups of cereal without milk, 1 banana, 2 blueberry pop tarts, 1/3 pound sirloin burger with the bottom half of the bun, 1 piece of cheese, 1/4 cup hummus, and about 2 cups of french fries and 80 ounces of water. Assortment of vitamins and of course my favorite candy Motrin. I'll have salmon and veggies for dinner. I feel like I'm going to explode but in 90 minutes when I go running it should be perfect. I'll have some cliff shot blocks before I head out for an extra kick. I'll drop about 1200 calories on the run and be starving when I get home. I'm very calorie deficient at the start of a week since I run harder and longer on the weekends.

Knowing what my body needs for easy, moderate and hard work lets me plan in advance. I plan my long term food storage the same way. If it's a SHTF I don't think I'll be running  but I'll probably be doing just the same amount of work (or more) so I want to plan to eat the best I can.

2 comments:

  1. dear friend - get yourself some honey! it can replace electrolytes and sugar and a bunch of other stuff that you lose when you work out and sweat. you make it with hot water but can then let it cool and drink it like a sweet tea. let me know if you want the recipe.

    you need naturally and locally-sourced honey.

    (spent 11 years competitively training as a gymnast, 10 years in the military and hubby is an ex-runner, ex-mountain biker and ex-street biker. we live on horribly pitted country roads which is why he is no longer running or biking. but the honey works. i mean it! oh and honey is also a natural antibiotic!)

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  2. I tend to use water until the long runs, then I use electrolyte tablets from Nuun. When I'm really pre loading for a 3+ hour run I'll drink some gatorade as well. Gatorade doesn't sit well in my hydration pack when it's hot out, tends to sour so I switched a long time ago.
    I use honey a home with my peanut butter sandwiches, but I will keep your idea in ind for sure!

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