Healthy eating/sport nutrition in China

[Colossus]

I dunno how many wieghtlifters are out there but if you are there, please come to my rescue!

I am a bit anal about my workout and diet routine (comes from 11 years of wrestling) and now that I am partially recovered from a herniated disc, I am hoping to get back into the gym

What is really hurting me is the nutrition aspect. I am looking for some fairly cheap sources of protein, but all I can find is tofu. Meat is pricey (plus I've gotta get it every day or deal with freezing it) and eggs--holy smokes! The place I bought them from charged me 7 kuai for 10! That is nearly equivalent to the prices in the States! And whey protein--forget about it. That stuff is like 500 for a small jug.

Also, half of the time I have no clue what the nutritional value of the stuff I'm eating is. Any thoughts on this dilemma?

[liuzhou]

The place I bought them from charged me 7 kuai for 10!

They saw you coming!

[scorchio777]

ah? maybe u took too many of those steroids pal

10 eggs for 7 kuai?

thats about as cheap as eggs could get. In your money, its 10 eggs for 1 measly dollar

a kilo of beef in china is about 3 dollars, a full, fat chicken freshly plucked is 3 dollars

Is that expensive for you?

Or maybe the exchange rate got u confused

[imron]

Haha, who would've thought I'd ever be having a conversation about the price of eggs in China. Anyway, at the market where I shop in Beijing, eggs go for between 3.5-4.0 yuan a half-kilo.

Freezing meat isn't that troublesome (unless you don't have a freezer ). I typically buy all my meat for the week and freeze it. The biggest problem I have is remembering to take it out in the morning to thaw. Where I shop, beef is around 16-18 yuan a half kilo, and chicken is around 8-9 yuan. I'd be interested in hearing what others pay in different areas.

[scorchio777]

the price of meat has increased sharply in the last year due to various reasons especially pork prices due to some kind of pig disease

i'm in xinjiang now and one interesting point to make is here we measure by kilogram not jin or halfkilo

a kilogram of beef was 24 yuan in the overpriced supermarket down the road

today i paid 9.5 yuan per kilo for a chicken which weighed 2 kilos

i paid 16 yuan for a kilo of bacon also

[Colossus]

In your money, its 10 eggs for 1 measly dollar

Yeah I know. I can buy a dozen jumbo, grade A eggs at home for 89 cents at the local grocery store. That means that in China, the price is actually higher (assuming that 7 yuan and 89 cents are norms), despite the fact that the exchange rate is something like 7.5 yuan to the dollar.

a kilo of beef in china is about 3 dollars, a full, fat chicken freshly plucked is 3 dollars

Yes, that is 22 yuan. If I was earning a normal American wage, of course I could be living in hog heaven and buy all the beef I want. However, I only earn $430 per month, so $3 is not insignificant.

And since when did an interest in healthy eating indicate steroid use? I apologize for wanting to take care of my body.

In fact--seriously? You chose your opening post in this forum to be a dick? Was it worth it?

[scorchio777]

it was it was

3500 yuan is more than enough to eat all the protein u like

those are the prices pal, if u still reckon u can't satisfy your protein requirements get

a job that pays more money

about 90% of english teacher jobs pay more than 430 US dollars a month

[wushijiao]

I have recently got back into lifting (was into it in college). I recently bought a big 5 pound bucket of METR-X Whey for about 370 HKD. I would assume that that type of product, as you said, would be about 500 kuai in the Mainland. Nonetheless, you might want to just bite the bullet, and buy that, even though it seems expensive.

The one I bought is 70 servings at 22g of protein per serving. Even at 500 kuai that would be 7.14 RMB per serving. That really isn't too bad of a price, especially if you consider that eggs, tofu, chicken, beef...etc are all far inferior as far as post-workout replenishing proteins, in my opinion. Plus, you would need to eat more of those proteins to get the quality that you would get from a shake, and the cost might even be higher.

So, my thinking is: use the shakes after workouts, then include other proteins in your diet (like tofu and eggs), mixed in with a lot of fruits and vegtables.

[cdn_in_bj]

How about soymilk? It's cheap here, though I don't know if it satisfies your protein requirements.

You can also snack throughout the day on peanuts, nuts, 瓜子, etc.

[Colossus]

wushijiao--where did you/could I buy something like Met-RX? All I could find around here was some crappy knock off. Also, I checked online, and international shipping rates for a good bag of whey is like $85.

[onebir]

It's not Met-RX, but I've seen various 80-90% whey/soy protein powders in the "large gift packets of health foods" sections of supermarkets. From memory they seemed to be around RMB200-300 for 800g-1kg.

I also found a 50% mainly soy protein product in the breakfast powders section of Carrefour, RMB50 for 300g.

If you're not trying to eat very low fat, you could go for nuts - they're 15-20% protein. Although they're 60ish% fat, there's some evidence that high-nut diets lower total cholesterol (especially LDL) & body fat percentage. My body fat %age does seem to have dropped since I added more nuts to my diet - mainly because I tested a bit high for cholesterol recently - even tho I'm not doing any conventional exercise.

& nuts seem to be pretty cheap in China - in Kunming, if you shop around you can get shelled walnuts & cashews for RMB50/kg & unshelled macadamias & brazil nuts for around RMB30/kg. Sunflower/pumpkin seeds are a bit cheaper, as is sesame seed paste...

[文言訓開班]

How about trying plain 'ol beans? Soybeans, black beans...well, I'm sure China has other types of beans, but those are the two I'm immediately aware of. They're cheap enough by the pound. Just down a half pound before your workout and you should be set.

[wushijiao]

wushijiao--where did you/could I buy something like Met-RX?

Sorry, I don't know. I feel like I remember seeing some form of protein powder, but I can't remember. (Maybe somebody else can help you out).

I agree with onebir and 文言訓開班 that nuts, seeds, and beans can be a good part of your diet, especially because they are fairly good for you in moderation. But I do wonder if they could really be the staple protein if you are engaged in serious weightlifting. I have some personal experience in that, because at one time I was lifting fairly hard and I was a vegan, getting most of my protein through those sources. While I certainly don't buy the arguement that vegans "don't get enough protein", I did feel that I didn't make as much progress in that period compared to similar periods in which my main post-workout food was a whey shake. But then again, if you are just working out to kind of stay in shape, then it probably isn't too crucial what you eat. But if you are working out to get stronger or to gain muscle, then certainly getting good nutrition is at least half the battle.

Also, you might also want to ask some local lifters what they eat. I think there are small communities of people who are into lifting in most big cities. They might have some answers.

In Hong Kong, there are GNC's, pretty much just like the US. And the prices are similar to American prices. But I think there is certainly a smaller percentage of people who are involved in those types of sports in the Mainland. Hong Kong seems to have a pretty strong fitness culture, whether you're talking about running, lifting, yoga...etc.

[MartinF]

http://www.worldhealthstore.com.cn/en/

the place above is in Beijing. The Whey protein looks like 3 to 4 times more expensive than the USA. I understand your dilemna. I'm a fitness freak, originally living in the USA, recently moved to Beijing, and I don't get paid USA wages. Although I don't get paid Chinese wages either. I'm somewhere in the middle.

I'm going to try to find soy protein shakes, if I can find them. It should be a lot cheaper than whey because it's made locally. Most of the high-quality whey proteins are made overseas (Germany?) so they are costly imports.

I'm not in competition, just do it for vanity and health really. So, if soy is cheap and I can get the same protein value from that, then I'm willing.

[文言訓開班]

I was vegan for a few years and will be going back to it sometime in the future. I also am a weightlifter and gained a good amount of muscle and weight while I was a vegan. The problem with beans and nuts is that they're just not as substantial as meat. If you were going to go that route, I think you'd have to eat more full meals per day to try to increase the amount of protein your body would take in. On a fixed (REALLY fixed) budget, that may not really be a viable option. Maybe whey is the most economical. If you're trying to pack on muscle weight, though, you are going to have to devote a good portion of your budget to food.

MartinF, I've never done real protein supplementation, and don't fully buy into the argument, but I've heard that soy protein can be unhealthy or dangerous is high dosages (high as in lifter's protein supplement-high) due to the estorgen content of it. I'd look into that first if I were you, then decide your route.

[heifeng]

In reality, I have no clue about weight lifting stuff, but would Amway have anything that would meet your protein/whey needs?

For me, for even just 'normal' vitamins and such, I just stock up on them in the US or get people to buy them for me when they visit since in the Chinese stores they 'claim' everything is from the US in general....and are even more expensive here...

[wushijiao]

but would Amway have anything that would meet your protein/whey needs?

It seems that they do have a protein powder. Hard to say how much it is, or what is in it by looking at the website though.

http://www.amway.com.cn/index.aspx

[wushijiao]

I was vegan for a few years and will be going back to it sometime in the future. I also am a weightlifter and gained a good amount of muscle and weight while I was a vegan

That's interesting 文言訓開班. Did you have any particular nutritional strategies being a vegan weightlifter?

When I was a vegan, I basically tried to have some sort of high protein soy-based fake meat as a the center of a post-workout meal, and then I would supplement my diet throughtout the day with things like beans and nuts, but also other foods that are generally high in protein. My stable grain was Quinoa, which is a delicious grain, and has a great overall nutrition profile (especially compared to white rice).

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=142

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrientprofile&dbid=143

Of course, finding Quinoa in China is probably not easy. China does have a wide variety of beans, seeds, nuts...etc. I found a website that include the percetage of protein and percentage of fat (as a percentage of total calories) of tons of different foods. I'm sure anybody can take a good look at what types of foods your local supermarket has, what the prices are, and then look at the nutritional profiles of them. Broccoli, for example, is very high in protein (at around 40%).

http://www.build-muscle-and-burn-fat.com/list-of-high-protein-foods.html

Anyway, I think I'm going to go back to a near vegan diet, although I may not be religious about it.

[MartinF]

Oh, I forgot to mention that I'm also a vegetarian. I do eat eggs and milk products. So meat and fish are out of the question for me.

Thanks for the tip about soy protein in high dosages. I want to eat about 150g of additional protein per day. My body responded very well to that previously when I was supplementing with whey protein back in the good old USA. It was cheap there.

I might just have to pay the ridiculously high prices of imported whey protein ..... and get a smaller apartment ..... and stop riding in taxis as much. Ha ha.

[cdn_in_bj]

Hmm, maybe I should bring back a case of that stuff the next time I go back home...