What I Eat For Health & Longevity | Dan’s Journey Back to Health and Fitness (Pt. 4)

Diet and nutrition, one of the world's most controversial and argued topics. Everyone's got an opinion and everybody thinks they're right. I'm about to add my own opinion by telling you what I eat and drink and what supplements I take and why. Feel free to get involved in the comments. I'm ready for them, I think. The World Health Organization estimates that 43% of adults worldwide are now overweight. Scientists say that ultra-processed foods are designed to be addictive, causing overconsumption. Why is nutrition such a controversial subject? Probably because you can find legitimate science-backed reasons why a certain diet is good for you, but also you can find legitimate science-backed reasons why that same diet is not good for you. It's a minefield. If even the world's leading dietary experts can disagree, it leaves little hope for the rest of us. My approach has always been to listen to and read a lot about nutrition and then make my own hopefully informed decisions based on that information. Of late, though, there's one thing that almost every dietary expert appears to agree on, and that is that ultra-processed foods are not good for us. Most of the foods that we consume are processed. The mere act of boiling potatoes or steaming broccoli means they're a processed food because they're no longer in their natural state, but ultra-processed food is different. A really good example of this is bread. If bread is made using yeast, water, salt, and flour, it's a processed food. Once you add in colorings or emulsifiers or preservatives that are in most of the bread that we eat, it suddenly become an ultra-processed food. Why are ultra-processed foods so bad for us? Well, there's a whole load of emerging evidence and studies on this, and some really good books which I'd recommend reading. One of the best is called Ultra-Processed Put simply, though, one of the key problems with ultra-processed foods is that they're not satiating, i.e., you can eat a lot of them and not feel full. You want more. The Pringles slogan, once you pop, you can't stop, it's entirely true. Ironically, Pringles marketing campaign for the last few decades has openly highlighted all that is wrong with ultra-processed food. We can't stop, and that's not our fault. What's in these Pringles, A, doesn't fill you up, and B, leaves you wanting more. I'm using Pringles as an example because of their slogan, but it applies to almost all ultra-processed food. It's very hard to stop eating it. Whilst most of us are aware of the addictive properties of nicotine, alcohol, or drugs, very few of us are aware that ultra-processed foods have similarly addictive properties. One of the things that I have kept a much closer eye on for the last year or so are the ingredients in everything that we buy as a family. As a general rule, the fewer ingredients there are, the better it will be for you. I've got a couple of examples for you right here. First up, some different wraps. These are what we use for Jude's school lunches, on school holidays at the moment, but when he is at school. We found these ones, not affiliated with this company in any way, but if you look at the ingredients on the back, wheat flour, water, extra virgin olive oil, wheat starch, and salt. That's all that's in it. I found these ones at the supermarket today, Six Soft Kids Wraps, specifically marketed towards kids. If you look at the ingredients on the back here, there are a heap of them that you won't recognize at all. The wheat flour, water, rapeseed oil, stabilizer, glycerol, dextrose, acid, malic acid, raising agent, sodium carbonate, salt, emulsifier, mono and diglycerides of fatty acids, preservative, calcium propionate, flour treatment agent, L-cysteine, packaged in a protective atmosphere. You can see the huge difference in the number of ingredients between these two. Another example I've got for you is almond milk, which you would think can only be made one way. Not so. Two ones here. This is the one that I use for my smoothies. Inside this one, ingredients, water, organic almonds, 6%. An alternative one that I've got here, again, has a huge number of ingredients. Water, almonds, calcium, sea salt, stabilizers, guar gum, gellan gum, natural flavoring, emulsifier, lesser thins, vitamin B12, D2, E, potassium iodide. Again, a huge disparity between two products that look pretty much exactly the same. Another good example would be peanut butter. I found some that I was using to have a huge number of ingredients, but you can easily find some that only have peanuts and that's it. Unfortunately, the products with fewer ingredients can often be more expensive. That's certainly true for the products that I've just used as examples. That's because they often don't have as long a shelf life as ultra-processed alternatives. Now, I understand and I acknowledge that not all of you have the financial means to buy the best food. It's a real problem that we have in modern society that junk food, fast food, ultra-processed food is often so much more affordable. Hopefully, that will change at some point in the future. Right, could be time to get my helmet back on as I move on now to tell you all what I eat on most days. Just before I do, really important to point out that this is what I've come up with myself for my own current specific need. I am not a qualified dietician or nutritionist or doctor. I have, however, acquired a reasonable amount of knowledge over the years. I've no doubt I'll be learning even more in the future and quite possibly making some changes to what I'm doing right now. Maybe those changes will come because of the comments that you leave me underneath this video. Anyway, here goes. I will start with pre-breakfast. Yes, I've started having some calories before breakfast. There's quite a lot of evidence to support the benefits of intermittent fasting, which means restricting intake of calories to a six to 10-hour period each day. Right now, I'm working out at the gym quite a lot with the aim of gaining strength and some muscle mass for reasons I spoke about in the previous episode. It is possible to gain strength without gaining weight, but as I don't have a huge amount of muscle mass, I think it's advisable for me to try and put some on now before it's too late. Anyway, in order to gain muscle, you have to either be in a calorie surplus, i.e. consuming more calories each day than you're burning, or have enough surplus already stored in your body. Now, it's not that you can convert fat into muscle. You can't. That fat can be used as fuel for exercise, which means that more of the calories you consume can be directed towards building muscle. I'm not bulking per se, bodybuilder's term, but I am trying to consume a few extra calories each day to give my body the best chance of actually putting some muscle on. I make this the night before and I'll take it to the gym with me about six o'clock in the morning and consume it during my workout because apparently protein timing doesn't really matter. Carbohydrate timing does after endurance exercise, but with protein, all you want to do is consume an adequate amount and space that fairly equally throughout the day. What's in it? Well, I'll go through it now. I'll start with some almond milk and then I will put a banana into it. I'm trying to split it almost 50-50 between carbohydrates and protein. I put the aforementioned creatine in. One scoop is five grams. Like I said, creatine is not particularly expensive. This jar cost me, I think it was £28. I just got it through Amazon. It's creatine monohydrate. It lasts about six months if you take one scoop each day. Once you get it down to that point, it's not particularly costly. To get some extra calories in, I almost finished this, but this is some peanut butter, not ultra-processed. It's literally just mashed up peanuts in here. I'll add that into the shake as well. Then I have the whey protein powder. I think this scoop is about 25 grams. I have slightly heaped and shove that in there as well. Now, sometimes I will also add some kefir yogurt into it. Alternatively, you can just top it up with a bit of water, but I'll put some kefir in today. Again, really good for your gut. No added ingredients in it. It's just made from milk effectively. I probably should have shaken that, I think, before I put it in. Just to finish with some extra calories, I forgot to put out here. Give me a second. Some oats. I'll just shove a few of them in the top as well. Then just put it in the blender. There we go. I'll just keep that in the fridge and I'll take it to the gym with me tomorrow morning. Creatine is something that Conor is going to dedicate a whole episode to in the not-too-distant future. All I'll say today is that creatine is probably the most studied supplement out there. The more it's studied, the more benefits are found. Muscle performance and strength are the obvious ones, but positive effects on bone mineral density, memory, executive function, and even mood are now being found. The great thing is that in all the abundance of studies already conducted on creatine, there are very few to no side effects in the vast majority of people. It's a very safe supplement to take with a lot of upside, and it's generally quite affordable too. At my weight, five grams a day is all I need. If you're 50 kilograms, you'll need a little less. If you're 100 kilos, a little more. That's my morning fuel, as it were. I have that at about 6.30 during my gym workout or on my way to work. When I get home from the gym, I'll make Jude's packed lunch for school, a chicken wrap, fresh fruit, and homemade flapjack if you're interested, and then breakfast for me and Lorraine after that. I will eat breakfast just ahead of starting work, so about half past eight. It does take a little longer to prepare than most breakfast, but I think it's worth it. I've been having this for a couple of years now. The main part of it is Greek yogurt, not Greek style, but actual Greek yogurt. I get the 5% fat version of Lidl's. They're not a sponsor of our channel. I'm not affiliated with them in any way. I just quite like shopping there. In fact, that's where all the ingredients for our breakfast come from. Handily, there's a Lidl just next door to the gym that we go to. Anyway, authentic Greek yogurt is a fantastic source of protein. Kefir or skia yogurt are other options that are just as good for you. I just make sure that I get the unflavored ones and that there is no added sugar. Now, on top of the yogurt, I will have a variety of fruit, nuts, and seeds. I try to have as many different fruits and vegetables and seeds and nuts as possible each week for my gut health and microbiome. The more diverse and wide-ranging, the better it is. I'll have different types of melon, pomegranate, seeds, nuts, kiwi, mango, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, grapes, etc., etc. You get the idea. I don't have all of those every single day, but I do have a decent variety. I'll also add a handful of mixed nuts. The ones from Lidl are far more affordable, I've found, than most other places. Plus, I'll have some pumpkin seeds and some chia seeds as well. All of those are good sources of protein, essential fats, fiber, and antioxidants, etc. To top it all off, I'll add some cinnamon because I like the taste of it and because it too has a range of health benefits. Like I said, it is more time-consuming than standard breakfast like cereal with milk, for example, but I definitely think it's worth it. If I'm heading up to work, I make it the night before to save time in the morning. What I also have when I get back from the gym is a cup of tea. Lorraine and I have had redbush tea for about 15 years or more at this point. That's naturally caffeine-free and apparently just as hydrating as water. I also have a decaf coffee with frothed cow's milk. I have about three of these per day. Why decaf? Only really because I was trying to get rid of some stimulants that I was consuming at the start of this journey, so I thought I'd give it a go. I felt absolutely no different, if I'm honest. Why cow's milk? I've always had it and I don't feel bloated or have any side effects from consuming it. Next up, elevenses. Yes, I do quite often have a snack between breakfast and lunch and sometimes it's not the healthiest. I'll often make a chocolate brownie or flapjacks at the weekend. There's a lot of sugar and a lot of butter in both of them, but because I've made them myself using ingredients I've bought and selected myself, they're not ultra-processed, they're just processed. I tell myself at least that they're not as bad for me as if I'd bought them at the supermarket. Anyway, if I'm feeling like having something a little more healthy, I'll either have a handful of nuts or some of this 100% chocolate. It's not to everybody's taste, as my family will attest to, but I like it and it's very good for you. For lunch, we will often have leftovers from the night before. For that reason, we tend to make a much larger meal than we'll need in the evening and then put the rest of it in containers for the day after. That way, all we need to do the following day is reheat it for lunch. If I do need to make lunch because we haven't got any, it might be something like a three-egg omelet with tomato, onion, and cheese with a side salad, or maybe scrambled eggs on toast. As I said, most of the time, it's leftovers. I'll move on now to what we have for dinner. We almost always cook dinner from scratch using whole foods. We never buy packaged meals and we get takeaway at most once a month. That's not to say that we're forcing ourselves to abstain from something that we really crave, but ever since I met Lorraine 19 years ago, that's just how we've eaten because that's how we wanted to eat. Just before I go any further, I'll say that we are meat eaters. Lorraine has always been quite picky with what meat we do eat. It'll always be either from our local butchers or if it's from the supermarket, we normally opt the organic option. Again, that is not cheap and therefore not affordable to everyone. I realize that we're in a privileged position from that point of view. The reason though that we eat meat is because it's amongst the most calorie and nutrient-dense foods out there. I think that is particularly important for Lorraine who's in her early 50s and who doesn't have a huge appetite. It would be really quite hard for her to get the protein intake that she needs without eating some meat some days of the week. Again, I realize there will be alternative opinions on this. I'm not trying to push this part as advice to any of you. I'm just explaining what we eat and why. A few examples of evening dinners for us. Hopefully, by the time this video is released, I might have remembered to film some of them on my phone so you can actually see what they are. We tend to have a traditional English roast dinner on a Sunday that I will cook. Chicken, beef, lamb, or pork with plenty of roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, and a lot of greens and carrots. I'll often do roasted beetroot as well. On other days, we might have steak with salad and home-cooked chips. Sometimes we'll have a chili con carne with either rice or baked potatoes. That can be either with meat or vegetarian bean chili. We might have something like chicken wings with new potatoes and veg. Sometimes we'll have homemade or butchers burgers with chips and salad, or we might have a lasagna with a side salad. We also try to have fish one night a week as well. We have quite a wide range of dinners that we do, but the thing that they all have in common is that they're made with whole foods and we cook them from scratch. We tend to have our dinners at around half past six in the evening, sometimes a bit earlier than that at the weekends. Then after that, in the evening, I very rarely snack, but I have started having another protein shake half an hour or so before I go to bed, 25 to 30 grams of whey protein, just to ensure that I'm getting a really good quantity of protein every day. I spoke about the importance of protein in my episode on strength and muscle mass. Before I get onto the supplements I'm currently taking, I just wanted to tell you about my relationship with food and my relationship with food quantities. I've always been quite lucky in that respect in that my appetite really closely tracks my levels of exercise. If I'm training a lot, I feel hungry, I eat more. There were points during my cycling career where I could just eat and eat and eat and never really feel full. On the other hand, if I'm not training at all, my appetite plummets. Actually, one of the reasons that I started on this journey was because I got to a point where I was exercising so little, I had almost no appetite at all. I was sitting down for meals and only eating them because I knew I should, rather than because I really wanted to. I knew that wasn't a good place to be in and I knew that I needed to change that. I am lucky in that respect because it does mean it's hard for me to overeat. I don't look at fast food or chocolate or crisps and have to really stop myself from eating them. However, those of you who've watched the rest of this series will be aware that I do have other vices that I do struggle with, namely nicotine and alcohol. I'm not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Right then, on to the supplements that I'm taking. I've already mentioned that I'm taking five grams of creatine every day for a huge variety of reasons. As mentioned earlier, Conor will be doing an entire video about creatine in the not too distant future, so keep your eyes out on that on our main GCN channel. I also take omega-3. Currently, it's these ones from Performance Lab. Three capsules daily gives me about a gram of omega-3. I also take two spoonfuls daily of this extra virgin olive oil, one after breakfast and one after dinner. I know that sounds really weird, so I started doing it after listening to a longevity extremist, I'll call him, called Brian Johnson. There are some incredible benefits to extra virgin olive oil if you buy the right one. It has to be high in polyphenols, over 400 milligrams per kilo, and high in oleic acid as well. There are a heap of studies showing the wide ranging health benefits of good quality extra virgin olive oil, enough to make me pay extra to get some of the best quality that there is. The only other supplement I'm currently using is magnesium L-threonate. That's a sleep aid where I take about half an hour before I go to bed. Beyond that, I do take liquid form vitamin D3 in the winter months when I'm not getting as much sunlight. That's it. That's what my daily food, drink, and supplement intake looks like most days. I am still having quite a few beers on Friday and Saturday evenings, and I have no current plans to change or reduce that quantity. Just before I move on to how I've been getting on with my own journey back to fitness and health, I want to emphasize that I, nor GCN, have any affiliation, association, or sponsorship with any of the products or supermarkets that we featured in this video. By the way, if you think this video might help anyone that you know, please feel free to share it with them. If you've enjoyed it, we would really appreciate it if you could click on the thumbs up button that you'll find just down below. An update on my own progress. For those of you who've only watched this episode and not the previous ones, I should probably explain that I've made a few fairly big changes in my lifestyle in an effort to increase my healthspan, having spent a number of years doing my best to undo everything I've worked on as a pro athlete. I will put a link to the other episodes in the description down below so you can easily find them if you want to catch up. Anyway, this is how my Strava looked for the last month or so. You can find all of my activities there if you go onto Strava and search for Daniel Lloyd. Up to the 30th of July, which is when I'm recording this, I'd done 59 activities totaling 38 hours, so around 10 hours a week on average. Almost 14 hours of that was accounted for by dog walks. Only four hours was bike riding, only three hours was running. The dominant activity for me over the last month was weight training. 16 of my activities were at the gym, totaling 15 hours. Now, that was deliberate. Those of you who watched my last episode about the importance of strength, power, and muscle mass for longevity will know why I focused my attention on that. Those of you, though, that watched the previous episode on the importance of VO2 max may well be wondering why I've not spent more time riding or running. It's a good question and one that I was asking myself actually whilst I was out on a ride organized by Canyon yesterday with Tiffany Cromwell and Valtteri Bottas, to drop a couple of names. It was only 45Ks but on the one half decent climb that we rode up, I didn't feel great. It certainly didn't feel like I improved my cardiovascular fitness much over the last few months. The problem is that I'm not a full-time athlete. Barely any of you watching this will be. It is quite difficult, nigh on impossible, in fact, to improve everything all at once. VO2 max, strength, power, muscle mass, mobility, diet, sleep, etc., etc. There are only so many hours in the day. Rightly or wrongly, I have focused on gym workouts. I think that's because I'm enjoying them. It's something new. Also, because it's probably my weakest point, if you'll pardon the pun. I spent almost 20 years of my life training full-time for an endurance sport. In theory, that side of things should improve reasonably quickly once I do start focusing on it. When I start focusing on it is a different question. I would like to see an improvement in my VO2 max when I take my test again in November, so I'd better not leave it too long. As I've said from the start of this whole thing, my aim for this is very long-term. I'm confident I can maintain the lifestyle I'm currently living for decades rather than just months. That's mainly because I'm really enjoying it. I've got myself into a nice routine. Then I guess the real test is going to come when it's colder, wetter, and the mornings and evenings are darker. In terms of nicotine intake, not good, also not bad. I'm currently settled on a middle ground where I'm using those nicotine pouches on Fridays and Saturdays, which is when I'm having a few beers, so five days off both. Yes, I have stuck to the two evenings of alcohol per week, barring the Sunday that England were in the Euros final when I broke that rule as well. My sleep has been pretty good, but you can really see the difference between the five days that I don't drink and the two days that I do. That's partly because I'm going to bed later, but mainly because my sleep is a lot more disturbed during the night because of the effects of that alcohol. At the moment, I guess it's a compromise that I'm willing to make, but that might change in the future. I am planning on stopping alcohol throughout October this year, so I can monitor the differences at the end of that month just ahead of my final tests. That's me, but what about you? If you've been making your own lifestyle changes in recent weeks or months, I'd love to hear how you're getting on. Of course, feel free to comment on my diet and nutrition. I'm always really happy to read any opinions on things, so please get involved in the comment section down below. Right, I will be back very soon looking into the benefits of good consistent sleep. What happens to our brains and bodies when we sleep? How much do we need? Can we sleep too much? I'll be answering those questions in a video that will be out in a few weeks' time. See you then.