Calories from solids vs. liquids

[Phenom]

After counting my calories for a while I've noticed a lot of my calorie intake is from what I drink. I usually have 7-10 cups of milk each day, plus a gatorade or two. This gets me to 1200 calories minimum from liquids. Is there any benefit from having more calories from solid food compared to liquids? I'm bulking right now, on 3400-3600 calories/day (My maintenance is in the low 3000s) and I just want to find out if its ok to have 1/3 of my total calories come from liquids.

Thanks.

[sCaRz*Of*PaiN]

You need nutrients from a variety of sources. Eating (or drinking) the same thing all day, every day is not the best option. If the other two-thirds of your diet consists of nutrient-dense foods, then sure, that's fine. Eat your fruits, nuts, and veggies. Don't forget about fiber, either.

And that should be fine.

[McIrish]

Yeah, you should probably ditch the gatorade, too, if you're looking to "optimize." Gatorade = salty sugarwater.

[Phenom]

Yeah, you should probably ditch the gatorade, too, if you're looking to "optimize." Gatorade = salty sugarwater.

But it's sooo delicious

[ADT]

You need nutrients from a variety of sources. Eating (or drinking) the same thing all day, every day is not the best option. If the other two-thirds of your diet consists of nutrient-dense foods, then sure, that's fine. Eat your fruits, nuts, and veggies. Don't forget about fiber, either.

And that should be fine.

Well said.

Phenom, read this to help you understand why drinking calories isn't always the best way to go about things:

Mind and Muscle's "Q&A with Marc Mcdougal".

http://www.mindandmuscle.net/article...mcdougal/qanda

Best,
ADT

[Guido]

Interesting article, peanutman. I also like the part in the Q & A about carbs in the morning. I didn't realize that it was such a bad thing and that there was such a difference in cortisol level between morning and night!

[McIrish]

I'm really curious what the "cal is a cal is a cal!" crowd has to say about that article. I'm not saying that I believe it as the gospel truth, but he does raise a VERY interesting point.

I think people oversimplify the entire bodily system and I don't fall in the "a cal is a cal!" crowd, myself. Try eating ho-ho's and twinkies to "meet your daily needs" and let me know how that works out for you.

Furthermore, this may be a bit off-topic, but I think it's bogus that people set these arbitrary "daily requirements", as if hitting some benchmark on a daily basis was somehow the only limiting factor in growth. As a banal example, what if I slammed down a 1500-2000 calorie breakfast which hit all my protein requirements for the day and then I spent the rest of the day chewing on jujubes and pouring Pixie Stix into my mouth. The calories might be the same, but you can't tell me that my body would have the same response. It's not like your body magically resets after every 24-hour period of alternating light and dark and re-starts an arbitrary counter.

[Chubrock]

I'm really curious what the "cal is a cal is a cal!" crowd has to say about that article. I'm not saying that I believe it as the gospel truth, but he does raise a VERY interesting point.

I think people oversimplify the entire bodily system and I don't fall in the "a cal is a cal!" crowd, myself. Try eating ho-ho's and twinkies to "meet your daily needs" and let me know how that works out for you.

Lyle McDonald talked about this a bit in one of his articles. In fact, he actually spoke for and against both sides. In the article he goes on to say that (paraphrased), after you satisfy requirements for protein and fat, everything else, to a degree, is "a cal, is a cal, is a cal."

[Slim Schaedle]

In response to the article about morning carbs, if one is eating an amount of morning carbs to replenish liver glycogen depleted throughout the night, then insulin sensitivity has no bearing whatsoever because hepatic glucose uptake does not rely on it.

[Slim Schaedle]

In response to the article about liquid supplementation, enteral feeding (provision of nutritional requirements through a tube into
the stomach or small intestine) is medically acceptable and widely practiced when over a long term basis when needed.

Basically, the only fom of feeding is a forumula very similar to a carb/protein shake delivered straight through a tube.

[McIrish]

In response to the article about liquid supplementation, enteral feeding (provision of nutritional requirements through a tube into
the stomach or small intestine) is medically acceptable and widely practiced when over a long term basis when needed [my emphasis].

Basically, the only fom of feeding is a forumula very similar to a carb/protein shake delivered straight through a tube.

Right, but feeding through a g-tube is far from ideal, no? Aside from missing all manner of phytonutrients that you'd pick up in fruits/veggies and having awfully low fiber, there's no guarantee that you're actually utilizing the lion's share of the formula's ingredients that go into the stomach. Ensure and Jevity != a healthy, balanced diet.

I understand that g-tubes are a necessary evil for stroke patients who have lost their swallow reflex, for example, but they're hardly ideal, so if you have the option to avoid that route, wouldn't that make more sense?

I'm only asking for a little clarification... I've taken a good third or half of my calories through a blender (for convenience's sake more than anything else) for about a year now, and if there's a more optimal way to go about it, you better believe I'll jump ship.