Looking forward to the arrival of a 20kg power club this week. They are great for adding more variety into your workout.
“Fail to plan and plan to fail”. You can’t get truer words when it comes to achieving a goal but it’s especially true when it comes to eating healthy.
The ingredients to a perfect day start with the ingredients that go in your mouth.
Decide what foods you need for the week ahead and plan how you are going to shop for them.
You can get away with zero shopping trips if you decide to do all your shopping online. Otherwise schedule a weekly trip to your local farm shop for fresh free range and organic foods. Rely on the supermarkets for the household essential items and non-fresh foods.
Some people do great eating snacks between meals and others not so great.
My advice is this; if snacking is something new to you and you are keen to speed up the metabolism, try experimenting. I would recommend trying a mid morning snack first. Remember that consuming most of your calories in the first half of the day will do more for your metabolism than putting off eating till the back-end of the day.
It is also important to remember that eating good quality foods and nutrients for your main meals doesn’t give you the right to snack on bad calories.
Plan what foods you are going to use for snacks
Tip: Choose just two foods, a protein food and a carbohydrate food and always carry them around with you so you don’t get stuck when you need something to eat.
Only eat natural foods
Tip: Try not to eat anything with multiple ingredients i.e. processed bars etc. For example try fruits and nuts/seeds or nut butter.
Keep your eye on the clock
Tip: Do not eat snacks sooner than 2 hours before your last meal. If it is approaching 4 hours since your last meal you will need to eat something to keep the metabolism ticking optimally.
Experiment with what works best for your body in regards to how often you need to snack and the response it has to the rate of your progress. For instance are you making progress with just a mid morning snack or do you need a mid afternoon snack as well?
Final thought
Don’t eat snacks for the sake of it if you are not hungry and eating good quality meals plus happy with the way you look.
There is a way of achieving muscle fatigue if all you have are a pair of light dumbbells kicking around in your spare room. As long as you stick to some guidelines you will be able to feel the burn with all your workouts.
Here are the rules:
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“Don’t worry this isn’t rocket science or time-consuming, in fact it is absolutely simple.”
First of all I have to say that I don’t recommend weighing foods or counting calories. I have spent years in the past doing this and playing scientist with percentages etc. Not only is it unnecessary but it also consumes too much time. I learnt a much better way that requires no commitment or valuable time. Beside it isn’t natural to weigh foods and count calories. No other living thing on this planet does it so why should we. Do you think cavemen knew what a calorie was?
The system I recommend can be used anywhere, even if you are eating out and not in control of your food preparation. The system I am talking about is using the same visual portion for each food group.
Not only is it easy to remember but also consistent every time you eat something.
This is the system I use with great success:
A Portion of Protein = the size of a deck of cards.
A Portion of Carbohydrates = should be able to fit in the palm of your hand.
Remember this a visual method for consistency, there is definitely no need to get hung up about the accuracy. Keeping a tape measure handy to confirm the size to the nearest millimetre does not apply!
The longer you practise using this visual method the easier it will become. You will develop a natural instinct about each food group and the correct portion size for each type of food you eat. Then you can determine how many portion sizes per food group works best for you at each mealtime.
Two nutrients you need to become familiar with are carbohydrates and proteins. These are important because you need to combine these two nutrients every time you eat something.
The benefit of doing this is to control insulin levels and to curb appetite and stop the fat storing mechanism.
Did your last meal consist solely of food that came from an animal? Or was it only food that grew in the ground or on a tree? If the answer is no to the first question and yes to the second question then you just had a meal of carbohydrates. This puts you in the vicious circle of what most dieters find themselves in.
Eating carbohydrates by themselves
↑ Releases fat storing hormones
↑ Causes cravings
↑ Leads to eating more calories
The result is fat storage and weight gain
Proteins are mainly from animal foods. When you are eating something just think to yourself did it have eyes, did it swim, run or fly? If the answer is yes it means it is high in protein and belongs to the protein food group. The exceptions to this rule are nuts and seeds; they come from a non-eyes source but are high in protein and fat.
Carbohydrates on the other hand are from plant foods. Grains, fruits and vegetables all need to be avoided by themselves at meal times because of the insulin provoking effect they have and the consequences that can follow.
Sweating during exercise is inevitable but there are some steps you can take to reduce excessive sweating and improve your health at the same time.
The first step is to reduce or cut out grains and sugars from your diet. This alone will have huge benefits. The other step is to practise deep breathing exercises when you’re not exercising. This should be diaphragmatic breathing and is better done in a quiet place similar to meditation.
To improve your health it is better not to use aluminium-containing antiperspirants. The aluminium in the deodorants builds up in your system and has been linked to Alzheimer’s.
Quick answer none. Wondering what to do about the diet dilemma this bank holiday? Try to eat fat and protein before you consume alcohol. This will help slow down the blood sugar response from the sugar in the alcohol. If you don’t get your blood sugar levels under control you invite all sorts of health problems including weight gain.
Always choose good quality protein and fat. If you’re not a vegetarian go for easy and convenient options such as pate and cold cuts of meat. Vegetarians could eat almond nut butter or nuts and seeds.
For advice about losing a beer gut check out my previous post:
Beer Belly Solutions – the Easiest and Quickest Way to Get Rid of a Beer Gut
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