If you're not planning on changing much on your diet heading into the final week of your contest (no significant carb or sodium depletion/loading), what foods would you still try to avoid and why?

Protein sources
lean beef
chicken breasts
assorted fish (salmon, tilapia, founder)
egg whites
Muscle Provider

Carb sources
quick oats
sweet potato
brown rice
mushrooms
onions
romaine lettuce
broccoli
banana

Fat sources
egg yolks
flax seed
almonds
nut butters
EFAs

Thanks

If you are not trying to manipulate carbs or sodium most of the food items on your list look fine. If you had dairy products in there I would suggest dropping them the last three weeks, but you don't.

Most people do, however, cut back somewhat on sodium starting on Wednesday or Thursday in order to reduce the natural tendency to hold a little water with moderate to high sodium intake. If you have not planned on doing so, many people have had success with increasing water intake about 7 to ten days out, thus setting the stage for your body to want to get rid of all excess water. Then on Friday and Saturday you can reduce water intake to normal or slightly less than normal, but your body continues to get rid of the water as it is in that water removal state. This plan works best with a modest manipulation of sodium intake as described above.

I am not one to suggest extreme manipulations of sodium nor dropping water intake to almost nothing near a show. I feel that both strategies can backfire big time plus can create other health concerns.