What kind of supplements are you guys taking?

[Shane Lee]

and, lots of Jack Link's teriyaki beef jerky, too

[Jesse Bell]

Louis, AndyK5 is 100% correct. +1

[lates85]

coca-cola, a few cigars, and half to maybe a full pot of coffee a day

wake up 1:00 pm. volcano nachos from taco bell, chipotle burrito, starbucks venti salted caramel mocha extra shot...take a nap...wake up...eat some cadbury cream eggs and play skyrim/call of duty mwf3/starcraft...sleep...repeat

[lates85]

Luis I don't know your diet, but if it is not clean then there is a part of your problem. I am 10 years younger than you but I had the falling apart issue my self.
As I said earlier do not ever eat any refined sugar, cut back on the non refined carbs also, including whole wheat cereal bread etc.. cut dairy, basically get all your carbohydrates from vegetables and fruits. I would say 70 percent green veggies and 30 percent from fruits. Don't drink fruit juice, eat the damn thing. Eat lots of chicken breast, egg whites, shrimp, tilapia and salmon. Stop eating outside your own kitchen, pair this with a gallon of fresh water ) per day and I guarantee you will be stronger, faster than ever and have much faster recovery times. This is not gonna make you 20 years old again, but it beats supplements.

[DBK]

Eat lots of chicken breast, egg whites, shrimp, tilapia and salmon. Stop eating outside your own kitchen, pair this with a gallon of fresh water ) per day and I guarantee you will be stronger, faster than ever and have much faster recovery times. This is not gonna make you 20 years old again, but it beats supplements.

Hate to be a food nazi, but avoid farmed fish and especially tilapia. http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA40047...d-Tilapia.html
Try not to get farmed salmon either, or cheap shrimp from thailand, china or vietnam full of hormones and antibiotics just like meats if they aren't organic but tilapia especially. Next time you have that cheap shrimp that tastes like chlorine you know why. I agree though, make your own food.

[AndyK5]

AndyK5, sounds pretty awesome what you are doing. Is it difficult to get going and maintaining such a diet? I'd love to cut out sugar and non refined carbs, but it's in almost everything. Any suggestions on how to started?

Well you are right on the fact that it is not easy. However once you do it, you feel so good, its like a drug, you do not want to stop.

First of all determine how many calories you need per day depending on your height, weight and training regimen. Then divide that amount in to 5. Then set your phone timer to 3 hours. Eat breakfast hit the timer. When that timer starts to buzz you consume your next meal. This way you get the most out of every bite of food you eat plus you digest things very well. You also promote the growth of health bacteria in your colon, which is your second brain. A healthy colon by itself will improve your mood and condition.
In order to do this, you MUST stop eating outside period. No lunch, breakfast nothing. As an example, I was out at my gyms holiday party just about 30 minutes ago. There was fried shrimp, pizza and fries everywhere and I did not touch any of it even though I was starving. There was nothing I could order in the menu so I just did not eat. I came home, downed 2 chicken breasts and half a bowl of steamed broccoli and I feel great. I ate food at 11pm and I feel like I can go roll for 2 hours right now. If I had the pizza and other stuff I would be in laying on my back. This does require some self control but the biggest trick where everyone fails is this.
HAVE FOOD READY. I mean cook your food in big batches and have it stored in the fridge. So when it is time to eat you can grab and eat. When you are hungry you have the least amount of resistance to refined and processed foods. So if you are starving and it is going to take you 30 minutes to cook up something healthy, in best case scenario you will abandon the cooking and grab whatever is ready to eat. If you cooked your food from before and all it needs is a little tomato sauce and 30 seconds of nuking, it will be much easier to resist the temptation.
What to eat? Well as I said earlier chicken breast and egg whites are your best friends. They have a BV ( biological value) of 100, the highest you can earn, meaning they digest perfectly and give you the most amount of amino acids (what you get out of digested protein, the stuff that repairs your muscles). Salmon has all the omega 3's and other heart healthy fats you will ever need. Shrimp is a lean low calorie tasty protein source. It brings some cholesterol to the table but its hard to eat the stuff by dozens anyways. These are your sources of protein. Here are your carbs. You eat everything and anything that is a vegetable and it is green, as much as you want. This includes but not limited to broccoli, Brussels sprouts, celery, green beans, peppers, asparagus etc... Reminder, potato is not a vegetable, it is a root, you do not eat it. Maybe a little orange yam ( not sweet potato) but not a whole lot. Your second level carbs which are still great, but which will spike your blood sugar (bad) if consumed in extreme quantities are carrots, corn, peas and most fruits. These are still great and you should eat them up as much as you like especially if you have no weight problem. If you are looking for a six pack or getting ready for a competition then watch the amount you consume. Now the fats, this is very simple, olive oil and avocados are all you need. They are both miracle foods and will boost your immune system, recovery time and joint health. You can use any condiment you like as long as they do not have any carbs or fats in them. So mayo and ranch is off the table. Use mustard and the Thai garlic hot sauce stuff. Also use spices liberally. Oregano, paprika, black pepper, thyme are amazing stuff. Make sure to watch the salt intake.
Snacks?? Hell yeah, best snack ever are raw unsalted un-roasted almonds and peanut butter(chunky please) lots of good fats and protein. Basically a super food. Keep peanut butter refrigerated, nice and cold, when you get the muncies eat with a tablespoon until your body says enough. It is great. (Do not pair with any type of bread or jelly please, it defeats the purpose and actually ends up working against you instead of with you)
How to cook this stuff?
Well as long as you do not deep fry the foods above, pretty much any way of eating them, such as boiling, pan browning, roasting, steaming will work.
Where to buy the stuff and still have enough money left over for rent?
Costco is your friend here, if you do not have Costco around you find a wholesale retailer near you and buy in bulk. Do not freeze your food, if you think they may go bad soon, cook them all up which will give you 3-4 more days in the fridge. And trust me if this is all you eat and you do not supplement this diet with the occasional ( 3-4 times a week) lunch with friends and that once or couple times a week dinner out, you will eat it all before they go bad. If you buy in bulk from whole sellers, buying organic food is not that expensive and it will add lots of happy years to your life.
Your gains?
Well you do not add any toxins to your body, you are not taking processed foods in, you are eating very similar to how your ancestors used to eat which is lean meats veggies and nuts. Your body is used to digesting this diet, your genes and digestive tract have not changed for the last couple million years, but your diet has. It went from what I wrote above to processed everything. Just 150 years ago, people could not even dream to eat even 1/10th of the refined sugars that and average American eats right now.

Final tip
Buy a cheap rice cooker, don't cook rice in it. I fill mine with chicken breast, add bunch of veggies on the steam tray ,throw half a glass of tap water, close the lid in and 30 minutes later, I have enough food for 2 days. If the taste goes bland, in a small spray bottle, i mix olive oil, lemon juice and low sodium soy sauce and I spray my food with that. I like the taste personally.

Sample recipe

I came up with this one for the days where you feel really weak after training, also dehydrated.
Take cooked chicken breast cut it up in small pieces, take 3 strips cooked bacon (yes bacon) and cut it in small pieces. Cook up some onions with non stick spray in a pot, add chicken, mushrooms, lots of salsa (yeah the same stuff you dip your chips in) ( 10 calories per table spoon stuff), water, a table spoon of olive oil and a handful of almonds and that garlic hot sauce as much as you can handle basically. Add other seasonings that you like. Simmer for 45 minutes, eat as much as you want.

This is just how I eat. You probably have a different body and this diet can be tweaked for you even better, but if you changed nothing and just did this with the minimum of a gallon of water per day, I promise you that you will be pile driving people at the gym sooner than later. Good Luck my friend.

[Louis Ho]

Wow, thanks Andy! That's a ton of info. I'll try to digest it (no pun intended) slowly and hopefully give it a shot. Let's see where this goes. You the man.

[Louis Ho]

Andy, is this essentially the caveman diet that you are following? Also, does it become expensive following this type of diet?

[AndyK5]

It is not the caveman diet, but the basis is the same. Human body's do not evolve quickly but our diet has. You take a car that is designed and used to running with gas and start filling the tank with sugar water since it also has caloric content therefore energy in it, then you complain about the performance, say that it does not go over hills and has trouble starting up in the morning and you need spray startup fluid (coffee) in to the carburetor just to get the damn thing to turn over..

As far as cost analysis, your monthly grocery bill will probably not increase. You are going to buy more of the good food and buy less or non of the bad foods. I realized that a trip to the local whole seller will cost me $100 even if I buy chicken breast, veggies and nuts, or take an bake pizza, hot dogs and corn dogs. Even if it did, you need to consider that every time you do not eat outside, you are saving yourself between $5-10 at the minimum. This adds up pretty quickly and an organic meal as I described above, cooked at home does not cost $5-10. Way way cheaper when it comes to that. There are people who will complain since they are used to spending $150 on crap per month at a grocery store, but then go out and eat $400 worth of junk food. They don't realize that their monthly food bill is $550 and still smirk at people who spend $300-$400 at the store. My friends make fun of me all the time saying that I am a monster, that I eat so much and spend all my money on food. It is total non sense, I spend less money on food and drinks than they do.

[Louis Ho]

Thanks Andy, I already started to make changes. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep it up.