Healthy Gamer Discussion

Sinshroud said:
I had a braai last night too. Actually usually ends up being one of the easiest healthy meals to have without feeling "deprived" or like you are eating healthily.

Lots of meat, some sweet potatoes, salady stuff, and some wine. We skip all the pre-braai snacks and don't do braaibroodtjies anymore (*gasp*).

Overall my weekend was average. At pretty well and went to gym on Saturday. Sunday I spent the whole day at Tygervalley shopping center because my girlfriend was taking part in a competition there. I ate some crap, but at least I walked a TON a doing shopping and keeping myself occupied from 9am until 2pm.

Today started off well so far. Some left-over braai meat, a handful of nuts, and black coffee for breakfast. About to head to gym in the next hour or so too.
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I tried eating healthy in the past but got frustrated when my weight didn't change after half a year,my weight has been between 110kg and 113kg for more then 4 years now.I have some exercise equipment but they only see some use during load-shedding.
Mash said:
hahaha you should chill thats too much ...whats for desert though?"whistling:
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Rarely make desserts but once a month or so i would make malva pudding or chocolate oats cookies when i feel like it.I might buy flam, chocolate mousse,canned peaches and custard if i have extra left on my grocery shopping budget.
 
Ive done the healthy eating to lower my cholesterol, which i shouldn't have to do(im a vege so it shouldn't be a problem). I find exercise really easy once my mind is set. I tend to try stretch and exercise my muscles while im at my PC or i will end up not being able to concentrate, i don't know if many of you do this as well.
That and i gain weight very easily, like lets say if i eat junk i will gain up to 5kgs i a week (gained two while still exercising on holiday:D)
 
Haha that was good. It's true though, you would be amazed at the extent to which athletes (or anyone good at doing something) go to be good at it.

Even before I got into health and fitness, I used to be pretty serious about top-end World of Warcraft raid attempts and getting world/server firsts, etc. Even though my diet and lifestyle was crap, as soon as I knew an extended gaming session was coming up (like the release of a new expansion or raid) I would immediately sory my life out for that time period for best performance.

I would sleep a lot more than normal, leading up to the event. Junk food went out the window. Cut coffee completely until the event came in order to re-sensitize myself. Took frequent mini-breaks and did various stretches, etc.

For example here is a guide a wrote back in 2010 called Pushing the Limits: Tip on Attaining Server First Level 85 for the launch of Cataclysm. It mostly focused on in-game support, real-life support, beta testing prep, in-game pep, general good practices, macros, etc. But it also briefly included some tips on food, drink, and exercise at the bottom - looking back now with what I know, those tips made sense but could have been so much be.

I will perhaps approach MyGaming to see if I can write an article for them about gamer nutrition and vitality.

Anyways in the mean time, getting back to exercises. Sitting for extended periods of time (especially in a bad poisition is absolutely TERRIBLE for us. It does a HUGE amount of damage that if not mitigated or dealt with as it happens, it WILL cause lasting and irreversable problems.

This is a nice article from The Art of Manliness on 7 Simple Exercises That Undo the Damage of Sitting.

Apart from sitting properly (check out Kelly Starrett's Bracing Sequence), the best exercises recommended in that Art of Manliness post are definitely the Pigeon Couch Stretch and Pigeon Pose. If you can, you should be getting into the deep squat position a few times a day, every day, and then using the glute bridge (not even with a barbell) to train glute activation as we pretty much lose that completely when sitting so much.

Also I find that the cat pose to cow pose yoga routine is excellent for alleviating a bit of short-term back pain (if you want to get rid of back pain though, you need to fix the original problem such as sitting too much and not moving around enough, combined with some more effective long-lasting exercises)
 
[MENTION=3831]Sinshroud[/MENTION] thanks for posting in the thread. Quite a few interesting posts.
 
czc said:
[MENTION=3831]Sinshroud[/MENTION] thanks for posting in the thread. Quite a few interesting posts.
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It's a pleasure, there is SO much useful information out there that it can almost become overwhelming for many.

What I want to do is help people find the right tools and resources by putting it into the right context for them and their lifestyle habits.
 
Good news, I was listening to one of Tim Ferris' podcasts where he was interviewing Jane McGonigal who happens to be a big fan of having a "gameful" mindset and looks for how games can be incorporated into a healthy lifestyle.

One of the things she dropped during the podcast was that playing ‘Tetris’ reduces the strength, frequency and vividness of naturally occurring cravings

To explain a bit more:

"Elaborated Intrusion Theory (EI) postulates that imagery is central to craving, therefore a visually based task should decrease craving and craving imagery. This study provides the first laboratory test of this hypothesis in naturally occurring, rather than artificially induced, cravings. Participants reported if they were experiencing a craving and rated the strength, vividness and intrusiveness of their craving. They then either played ‘Tetris’ or they waited for a computer program to load (they were told it would load, but it was designed not to). Before task completion, craving scores between conditions did not differ; after, however, participants who had played ‘Tetris’ had significantly lower craving and less vivid craving imagery. The findings support EI theory, showing that a visuospatial working memory load reduces naturally occurring cravings, and that Tetris might be a useful task for tackling cravings outside the laboratory. Methodologically, the findings show that craving can be studied in the laboratory without using craving induction procedures."

This could be translated into many other games too, provided they are very visual, vivid, and increase working memory load.

Jane McGonigal also explains that while playing games is beneficial, studies show that one should keep it to a maximum of 21 hours a week (or 3 hours a day) otherwise the benefits of gaming start to decline and the negative impact on our lives start to become more dominant.

She also has a TED talk on Gaming can make a better world ("Games like World of Warcraft give players the means to save worlds, and incentive to learn the habits of heroes. What if we could harness this gamer power to solve real-world problems? Jane McGonigal says we can, and explains how.")
 
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This is a great post for anyone concerned about Insulin Resistance, Metabolic Syndrome, and Diabetes: http://authoritynutrition.com/insulin-and-insulin-resistance/

Insulin resistance implies that the cells are not responding well to the hormone insulin. This causes higher insulin levels, higher blood sugar levels and may lead to type 2 diabetes and other health problems.

The main causes of insulin resistance may be overeating and increased body fat, especially in the belly area. Other factors include high sugar intake, inflammation, inactivity and genetics.

Having high insulin levels and high blood sugar levels are key symptoms of insulin resistance. Other symptoms include lots of belly fat, high blood triglycerides and low HDL levels.

Insulin resistance is at the heart of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes, which are currently among the biggest health problems in the world.

Insulin resistance may cause a variety of diseases, including heart disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, polycystic ovarian syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease and cancer.

Insulin resistance may be reduced or even completely reversed with simple lifestyle measures. These include exercise, eating healthy, losing belly fat and taking care of your sleep and stress levels.

Low-carb diets reduce the harmful insulin resistance linked to metabolic disease. However, very low-carb ketogenic diets may induce a harmless type of insulin resistance that spares blood sugar for the brain.
 
HawkerZA said:
Eggs and bacon on toast for breakfast and Pizza for lunch (leftovers from last night)
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I love Col'Cacchios' Banting pizza. Most cauliflower pizza bases taste like crap, but theirs is actually really good and comes with a relatively decent side salad too.

Last night I had a pizza from Primi though. As much as I love eating meat, I find I don't like it all that much on pizza. I had spinach, feta, and olives on mine which is a really winning combo!

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Anyways this is pretty cool: http://www.sleekgeek.co.za/2015/08/less-this-more-that/

Sleekgeek is an online health and fitness social community and they created this chart as a quick-reference for their members.

"Take this as a best-effort approach where something is better than nothing at all. Keep note that it says “less” and “more“, not “none” and “only“."

less-this-more-that1.jpg
 
Research shows that people who eat slowly tend to digest their food better, lose or maintain weight more easily, and feel more satisfied with each meal.

On the other hand, those who rush their meals due to time constraints, distractions, or simply by habit tend to run into way more health-related problems such as eating more calories than they meant to, finishing their meals way before natural satiety signals kick in, ending up uncomfortably stuffed, and having poor digestion and nutrient absorption.

Getting into the habit of eating more slowly can provide enormous benefit at very little effort cost.

An example is you may often hear the recommendation to eat whole, unprocessed food because it is nutrient-dense and fills you up more. The problem is if you gobble down your food and overeat before your body realizes it is actually full then you may as well have just eaten a box of donuts or a tub of ice cream instead. Either way you are going to be consuming too many calories and putting on or keeping on unwanted fat.

It takes about 20 minutes from the start of your meal for your brain to send out satiety signals and hormones. Next time you eat see how you can slow down your meal by being a bit more social (eat at a table instead of in front of the TV), drink some water in between mouthfuls, put the knife and fork down now and then, don't start cutting your next bite until you have swallowed your current one, and so on.

If you currently finish most meals in 3-5 minutes, you don't need to suddenly take 20 minutes for your next meal. Just work on slowing things down. Aim to slow the meal down by 5-10 minutes or so and see what a difference it can make.

This is an example of what I call Habit-Based Nutrition.

Habit-based nutrition is a strategy where a small handful of simple but effective habits are used to help shape your nutritional choices (regardless of your plan) slowly overtime.

As these habits catch on and become more ingrained, you will have an easier and easier time making smart nutritional choices without even putting much thought into it.

Other Habit-Based Nutrition strategies that I've found to work incredible well include:
- Eating only until 80% full (or hari hachi bu as the Japanese call it).
- Earning your carbohydrates (only eating carb-dense foods after a workout, or using it to fuel a workout).
- Designing for default (health foods at eye level, unhealthy foods hidden away - Google "James Clear Design for Default").
- The first bite rule (whatever food you start eating first in your meal is the food you’ll most likely eat the most of).
- Eating protein and veg with each meal (satiating, promote health, and preserve lean muscle mass - especially in calorie restriction/dieting conditions).
- ALWAYS know 3-4 easy and/or quick meals (you should have a list of dead simple breakfast, lunch, and dinner recipes stuck on your fridge).
- Snack rarely (contrary to what you may feel like when you miss your 10am or 4pm snack, being a bit hungry won't kill you).
 
Solitude said:
That's something that I struggle with. I eat way too fast. Good guide!
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It's definitely really tough, I myself struggle hugely with it too and I've found being more mindful of how I eat has helped me hugely.

It takes practice. Tell people to sit at a table and eat 10 raisins in 10 minutes, 1 per minute, and they would rather cut off an arm.

In this day and age, our attention span has become the primary commodity. Every company is trying to grab the attention of their consumers, the celebrities that are atttention-seekers tend to make the most money, and so on. The little attention span that you have left to youself and can use for things like being more mindful throughout the day is extremely precious.
 
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