What Are the Components of a Healthy Balanced Diet and Menu for Men?

I'm a very busy guy, I work 9 to 10 hour days 5 or 6 days per week and I get to the gym about three times a week. I eat a pretty good, healthy diet and I know that carbohydrates give me energy before a workout and I need essential amino acids (protein) right after a workout for the repairing process, and above all I know the importance of consuming the correct amount of water each day.

I am knowledgeable about healthy eating and the nutritional benefits of fruit and veg, and about how bad saturated fat is for me. I eat whole grain foods, and generally like to eat fat free food. But I don't usually over stress about having a tuna and mayo sandwich, or the occasional cheese baguette for lunch sometimes, even though I know cheese is high in saturated fat (It's great for protein, right?!)

And I also have no qualms about diving into the complete opposite when needs must! But always keep my healthy balanced diet ideas and bodies requirements for amino acids, carbohydrates and water in mind when I think about what I eat.

I know that I must eat a low sodium diet, to help prevent high blood pressure and stick to healthy fats from the likes of olive oil and fish oils (omega 3's).

After all, we do the hard work right? So why shouldn't we indulge ourselves in a pizza, curry or 'spag boll' now and again? And we usually view working out and diet as a credit/debit system', just like we do with our bank account. You make a deposit when you hit the gym (burn off some saturated fat), so you can enjoy making the withdrawal (eat some junk!) of a Friday night out with the boys, without going into 'debt'.

And even if you do, your Saturday afternoon football match and the early morning Sunday run will balance the books, right?

YOU NEED TO THINK AGAIN!

You are no different to me and the rest of the population of 'health conscious' men the country! We watch what we eat throughout the week, then when Friday night comes, your healthy consciousness is out of the window!

But after a while, something doesn't seem to add up with your calculations of 'I workout a few times a week, I eat a near healthy diet through the week - so I should be ok to 'pig out' on Friday nights and enjoy myself. Yup, that's what I thought too!

You see, last year my daughter was born and I took the option of being a stay at home dad for the first year so my partner could return to work. I work for myself, and I can earn what I need to to cover basic costs just by working part time, and I usually make more than that anyway. So working part time was a great option for me, so that I got the special bonding time with my daughter. But..

It suddenly dawned on me a few months ago, that I've gained a huge amount of weight since April 2009. I've tried several ways to lose the extra pounds but nothing has worked so far and now my front and side 'impact pads' are seriously bothering me, especially since I recently measured my bodyfat percentage!

So my thought process has been completely wrong with the 'credit/debit' diet and exercise system and those Friday nights out have taken their toll on my body. So the bottom line is (after extensive research) that the calorie intake on a good night out with the boys, far out weighs the calories used and destroyed in a few good workouts.

And it's by a lot, enough for me to be concerned about my health.

Say six pints at 225 calories = 1350 calories
Two bags on nuts = 400 calories

Then, when you get home
A deep pan pepperoni pizza = 1200 calories
Two glasses of red to go with the deep pan = 250

Total that up and you've got 3200 MASSIVE CALORIES!!!!

And that is just your night out, not including your lunch and breakfast etc. But it's the amount of exercise you require to 'shake' off that (relatively) controlled indulgence that is going to rock your world, and not in a good way neither!

Your Sunday morning run needs to now be around 30km, and not just the measly run around the park. Or you need about 120 minutes on an Elliptical trainer, a thousand sit ups and an hour on the gyms stepper to burn that off. None of which is feasible (probably) for you and me!

This is why the 'health conscious' men of the new millennium are in a constant battle with their personal energy and weight control. Our 'calories in' is outweighing the exercise we can manage to offset it. Each Friday night (and that is if it's just a Friday night out) takes us further down the road to those front and side 'impact protective pads'.

It seems what we need is a 'calorie-neutral' balance sheet, where all those calories are accounted for and burned off. So I decided about a month ago, that I would do something about it and get the balance right. Or so I thought.

First comes the arithmetic. Our energy is produced by the food we eat, which is your metabolism. Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the number of calories your body uses to make it through to tomorrow. No movement, no exercise, just basic breathing, beating and blinking.

Use this calculation to calculate your BMR:

66 + (13.7 x your weight in kilos) + (5 x your height in cm) - (6.8 x your age in years) = Your BMR

Mine is 2300, which means I can eat 2300 calories a day without moving a muscle and still clear the books. Sounds easy!!

The approx. amount of food I eat goes like this on typical day. Breakfast is toast and 4 scrambled eggs and a black coffee. Snack (oops!) and another coffee late morning. Then lunch is something like half a cup of rice and a tin of tuna (I told you I was health conscious!) and then (and this is one of my problem areas) a dessert of some kind, usually chocolate bar. Mid afternoon, coffee and a snack again and then some French bread while my dinner is cooking. And then dinner which is something like chicken kievs, or fish in batter (on bad days) and salad and rice or potatoes.

Thats roughly a normal day.

When totalling my BMR, including my current lifestyle and exercise routines, I still have an excess of over 400 calories just lying around and on a Friday, taking into account the extra calories from the beer etc, that total shoots up to over 2000 excess calories - Which is a problem - as I discover when I try to settle my calorie-debt!

I quickly come to realise that calories are far easier to eat, than they are to burn off. That might not seem like the sort of radical insight is going to turn around our countries obesity problem, but the mere fact the calories I burn with my current workout regime, doesn't equal the calories in one of my favourite saturday afternoon snacks, which is a Big Mac (large) meal and dessert, is enough to change my perspective of my current lifestyle.

So my fellow 'health conscious' friends, our good old 'credit-debit' system it would appear, is just what we say to ourselves to 'justify' a night out with the lads on a Friday and eat the occasional take away during the week! The system is extra-ordinarily flawed!

So today, a revolutionary new AJ is among us - let the diet and increased exercise plan begin. I'll keep you posted. Are you concerned about your own system and why you can't keep it under 'control'?!

If you want to avoid falling into dietary debt, then you need to understand just how skewed the pudding-to-sit ups exchange rate is. That's the first step in achieving your balance. Give it a go.