I don’t dogmatically follow a particular diet, but I’d say my eating habits most closely resemble the “Mediterranean diet”, but with some major deviations. Lots of the vegetables I eat are frozen rather than fresh (nutritionally, I think frozen veggies are unfairly maligned in the public eye), and I consume more meat and dairy than the “Mediterranean diet pyramid” would recommend.
There was a time when I used to set daily quotas for things I wanted to add to my diet (e.g. daily ration of walnut halves and pumpkin seeds), but now I just keep healthy stuff visible around the house and try to “make healthy choices more often.” Nothing is out of bounds for me, I’m just mindful not to pig out on the “not-so-healthy” stuff I include (e.g. cookies, pastries, potato chips, bacon, chicken wings, booze).
Yeah, I think we are the on the same page, my diet also most closely resembles that style of eating. A lot of those fad diets are very easy to get sucked into, and I found when I started taking health more seriously years back it ended up doing more damage than I realized.
I avoid any kind of sugar or corn syrup as much as possible, there’s entirely too much in everything, especially USA. They even put it in stuff that shouldn’t have any. Same with salt. It’s really difficult to find any pre packaged food that’s good. All fast food is awful and I avoid it. Sugary drinks and energy drinks are poison, I don’t know why this crap is even allowed on the market. Alcohol also turns to sugar in your system, so I avoid it too.
I’m diabetic so I have to watch these things more carefully. I can’t eat veggies due to food allergies, so it’s difficult to find stuff that I can which doesn’t have too much gluten in it or too much meat. Have to rotate what you eat too, or your body will start to get weird, so I rotate through different things.
I prefer aerobic workout myself, I don’t want to bulk up anymore, it just turns to fat when you stop. Hard to keep the weight off when you’re older too for some folks, including me. I think part of it is just lazyness though, I wanna play guitar and not exercise haha.
Avoiding alcohol is a good thing, but it doesn’t “turn into sugar”. Ethanol is metabolized in the liver through a different process than protein, carbohydrate or fat. Ethanol metabolism neither culminates with the production of sugar, nor includes sugar as an intermediate step.
Muscle doesn’t transform into fat. Muscular people gain fat when they have a caloric surplus, just like anyone else.
My doctor told me not to drink because the pancreas metabolizes it the same way, so I just assumed it turned to sugar. I’m not a doctor so I’d have to ask for clarification on it.
Dunno, all my muscle turned to flab when I became more sedentary hah, and I didn’t keep that kind of caloric intake up.
I don’t think being a musician really has any particular dietary needs or constraints beyond general good diet and exercise stuff - try to exercise portion control, eat a balanced and complete diet with good representation from all of the food groups, avoid processed foods when possible, try to get at least 30 minutes of light to moderate cardio a day, and at least 6 hours of sleep a night. The typical USDA guidance, really.
Guitar is more about dexterity than athleticism, so dietary changes that are driven by seeking to improve athletic performance really aren’t going to be all that much help here.
And, really, eating a reasonably healthy diet and getting enough exercise in the day and sleep at night are worth doing anyway, musician or not.
Yeah I agree with this in whole. I think everyone should strive to eat healthy and get exercise. I don’t think adopting this lifestyle change, if you don’t already adhere to it will give you better results on the instrument. Sure it may improve your focus over time, which could translate into better playing over the long haul.
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If I eat way better than MAB and exercise enough to look to like Thor, I bet MAB will still wipe the floor with me when it comes to guitar playing That said, everyone should try to eat healthy and exercise. It’s good for you!!!
I don’t think diet and exercise has much to do with how well one could play the guitar, but looking after yourself may prevent an early death, which will make it difficult to play guitar!
On a serious note, keeping hydrated is probably the most important factor for me. I experience far less muscle fatigue/ache/soreness in long practice sessions if I have been paying attention to my water intake…
I had hard times trying to get at better speeds. It only worked when i looked my excercises just as musculation ones. And tried to eat more proteins too. That works for me.
What I eat, how much I exercise and how much I sleep has always affected my performance as a guitarist and everywhere else in my life. Playing as a hobbyist is not the same thing as a performing musician either, it’s a lot of work and can be very draining physically, emotionally and mentally. Sometimes your on the road for extended periods of time, don’t get enough sleep, get bad food or eat things you’re not used to, and party too much. It all has an effect on your ability to perform and play.
As you age, these things affect you more, you don’t have the brain elasticity, and your body doesn’t recover as fast, and you don’t have the level of dexterity and reflexes you did when you were younger. I wish I had known that when I was younger so I took better care of myself. I can’t imagine the damage the garbage that passes for food these days causes people, not to mention the energy drinks.
I think this topic may have taken a wrong turn into territory I didn’t intended it to. I was more curious what peoples routines were, and what they eat/consume, rather than what their opinions were on the subject…
Well, I think the opinions are correlated to what they eat/consume, which is why people are giving them. The other thing is that diet and exercise should be tailored for the individual and also the goals can be different for different people and different times in ones life. If you want specific routines/diets then maybe stating a more specific goal will help.
My guess is that a lot of people don’t have strict routines which might be why there aren’t many suggestions - I have no routine, hence I’m overweight!
In your opening post, you seem to have a good view of what you need - varied diet with lots of vegetables, regular exercise (which can be varied too). Can’t go wrong with that really.
There’s actually something to this - good hydration is important for ligament/tendon help, and stretching and hydration can help, at least at the margins, minimize some of the risk of tendonitis and other RSI injuries. Form and just listening to your body are bigger factors, but hydration definitely helps.
Well, it’s tough, because those two go pretty hand in hand. My opinion on the subject is that diet and exercise are pretty irrelevant to playing guitar, provided that they don’t impact your fine motor control or coordination. Doing a couple tequila shots and then picking up a guitar, your motor control would be impacted. If you’re fairly caffeine sensitive, four espressos would probably do the same. I got into rock climbing a little in college but didn’t stick with it because while it was fun, it was absolutely hell on my calluses and my fingers were too stiff and sore after a climbing session to really play guitar well - again, I can see that being a factor.
Beyond that, though… I don’t think being an ultramarathoner or couch potato really impacts your ability to play one way or another, nor do I think if you’re an omnivore and decide to go vegan, you’ll notice a sudden change in your playing. Guitar isn’t an “athletic” endeavor in the sense that it requires a high amount of aerobic or anaerobic capacity, or a high amount of muscle strength. Speaking personally, as a fairly serious cyclist, the only correlation I’ve noticed between riding and playing is I tend to be a little better in the off season because I’m spending less time on a bike and more time practicing.
I feel obligated to say something because i am a physician. I agree with what appears to be the consensus already: diet is probably not something specifically fine tuneable to the guitar player. Agree with trying to align with fundamentals of good nutrition, hydration, and avoiding excesses of alcohol.
In terms of exercise, i do think that more of us would benefit from learning formal hand stretches and intrinsic hand strengthening exercises that can be incorporated into a regimen and even as part of a warmup.
These days we say “sitting is the new smoking.” it kills just as much so us guitar pickers probably do spend a lot of time sitting when we’re in the zone. Just make sure to get up every now and then.
Hope that was helpful. I’m not your doctor so you should discuss what you need to focus on when it comes to your diet with with your own healthcare team and i’m not liable and yadda yadda
Use beans (eggs too) for a cheaper protein, frozen vegetables to round it out (canned corn and peas is fine too). I know you may have been joking…but you raise a good point that is often discussed - ‘eating healthy is too expensive’ but…it’s not so. It can be done in terms of sensible portions, fiber and spending smart at the grocery store.
Nah, I’m used to that stuff. I’ve been being in a bit complicated situation for last couple of years, so for now my ‘diet’ is kind of limited. The only problem is meat… because I LOVE meat. Though I buy it once or twice a month, I’d better eat it everyday ))
I invested in a comfortable strap recently and now practice standing up idk if its a placebo effect but I notice I get more in the zone in terms of improv when practicing standing up now.
not to get on too much of a tangent but, the placebo effect is an actual effect. If the standing is getting you the outcome through the placebo pathway, enjoy it!
I am a FIRM believer in the placebo effect. Even if I know something doesn’t work, if it seems to work, I’m happy to go with it.
(95% of my practice is standing. Not that I really gig anymore, but I figure if I WERE gigging, it wouldn’t be sitting in a chair or on a stool, so I’d rather practice in the same position as I play. Using the same justification for cracking a beer while doing some technique practice is maybe a little less defensible, but hey, as long as I’m practicing!)
That said, everyone should try to eat healthy and exercise. It’s good for you!!!
