This month I’m going to give you the basics of eating healthy. There is nothing worse than going to the gym 4 to 6 days a week and not seeing the results that you were hoping for such as fat loss or muscle building. If you are doing things right in the gym when it comes to cardio and weight training and you’re still not reaching the results you are working towards, your diet is probably the issue.
Many people feel like if they need to lose weight or fat they should eat less. The reality is, that eating less will actually make you hold onto more fat and weight prolonging your progress. Not eating enough throughout the day will cause your metabolism to slow down resulting in a Plateau. Eating small healthy meals throughout the day, at least every four hours will help your body stay in a fat burning zone and keep your metabolism up.
You may be asking yourself “What is a small healthy meal?” To me a small healthy meal is a meal that is well balanced with protein, carbs, and a little bit of healthy fat. Just enough food to satisfy you without making you completely full. I will go over some examples of proteins, carbs and fats below that are safe to eat when health is your goal!
Your protein should be from a lean meat source. Obviously the most popular option is chicken breast, but I like to switch it up with a lean sirloin steak or a lean fish. Depending on your size and goal make your portion between 4 and no more than 8 ounces of protein.
Some non meat options to get your protein in would be a protein shake or from beans, soy being one of the most popular options.
The next most important thing on your plate will be your carbs. You can use a natural grain such as rice or quinoa. You can even use any type of potato. The biggest thing when it comes to consuming carbs is that it comes from a natural source and is not highly processed. Both rice and potatoes are minimally processed and you eat them in a similar form that they grew. Another example would be Oatmeal, it’s clear that it is minimally processed when you look at it. Many people are afraid to eat carbs because they think that it’s the reason they cannot lose weight, especially in their mid section. This is only true if the carbs normally consumed are from things like breads, cookies/cakes, cereals, pastas or any carb that clearly do not grow from the ground like that….. I mean, I have never seen a bagel growing from the ground, have you?
It is never a bad idea to add vegetables to your plate. Veggies can help fill you up and help you consume viral vitamin and minerals.
Lastly, if your protein source does not have a significant serving of fat I would suggest consuming a little bit of healthy fat each day. My favorite sources are Avocado, eggs and coconut oils.
These are just the beginning steps to cleaning up your diet. If you are not cued monitoring what you eat and decide to switch to my style of eating above, I can guarantee you will love the results! You will undoubtedly feel a physical and mental change.
We will get into some more detailed eating regimes like counting macros in a later blog.
Until next time,
Happy healthy eating!