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BASIC
Nutrition - A Quick, Common-Sense Guide To What
You Should Be Eating to Stay Healthy and Get Results
Right Now
Think proper nutrition is complicated? It doesn't
have to be. Follow these simple principles and
you'll never go wrong.
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I
would bet that without even thinking, you could name
4 or 5 diets or eating plans that are in the popular
media...Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, Atkins, South
Beach, etc. Every time you turn around, there's a fantastic
"new" approach to eating. It's enough to make
your head spin!
But
it doesn't have to be that complicated. I've got some
easy-to-follow nutritional principles that will help
keep you on the right track. Beginner or advanced, these
will work for you!
1. Focus your eating on natural, unprocessed foods
as much as possible.
While I know it's not always possible to get fresh fruit
and veggies and other unprocessed foods everywhere you
go, your body will always respond best when you feed
it foods that are not altered through processing. Your
body has evolved over thousands and thousands of years
to process foods in their natural state - it's only
relatively recently that processed foods have appeared
on the scene.
Your
body has the digestive mechanisms for efficiently processing
foods in their natural state. When you add in the fats,
salt, sugar, additives, etc., your body starts having
a hard time digesting and coping. Think of it like trying
to put regular gas into a vehicle that runs on diesel.
It may run, but it's not going to be very efficient
with the fuel and it could cause problems down the road
(no pun intended!)
Bottom
Line: Eating foods that are not processed allows your
body to function more efficiently. You'll lose fat without
even trying.
2. Get plenty of good quality, lean protein sources
in your diet
When
you're training, your body has a much greater need for
protein. During weight training and endurance training
especially, your body is constantly breaking down muscle
tissue. Protein is required to rebuild it. By regularly
feeding your body good protein sources, you'll be able
to hold onto and build muscle mass easier.
Good
sources of lean protein include meats (look for leaner
cuts like sirloin), poultry, eggs (while not lean, eggs
will not shoot up your cholesterol as many worry), fish,
low-fat dairy, soybeans, and various legumes (beans).
As
far as how much protein your body needs, this will vary
according to how much you weigh and your activity level.
A level of around 1 gram per pound of lean bodyweight
is a good guideline (we don't count total bodyweight
because fat is not metabolically active and doesn't
require protein to sustain it).
3. Don't be afraid of "good" fats
Fats
can be extremely beneficial, even when you're trying
to lose weight! Fats are important in a tremendous variety
of bodily processes including hormone production, immunity,
joint and organ protection, and even burning bodyfat.
Without the "good" fats, your body will not
function as well as it could.
"Good"
fats include sources such as fish, nuts, flax oil, borage
oil, and olive oil (there are many other good sources
as well). Increasing your intake of these good fats
can help keep you feeling good and burning your own
bodyfat more efficiently.
Your
total fat intake should be around 30% of your daily
calories. A good way to go about getting this is to
try and keep your focus primarily on low-fat foods while
purposefully adding the "good" fats into your
diet (like eating a few almonds every day or taking
fish oil or flax oil capsules).
4. Carbs are fine
Despite
all the talk about carbs being the enemy, it's important
to note that carbs and foods that contain carbs can
actually be quite good for you! It's generally the refined
sugar added to foods that is the problem, not the carbohydrate
as a nutrient on its own.
5. Non-nutritious foods should be minimized
This
is an easy one. More than likely, you already know that
you shouldn't be eating Cheesy-Poofs or chocolate bars
3 meals a day. The calories you get from these foods
don't come with any actual nutrients. When your body
is missing nutrients, it craves more food (not to mention
the insulin response to the sugar in many of these foods)
and you tend to eat more of the poor food that doesn't
have nutrients in it.
It's
ironic to think that many overweight people are actually
malnourished! When you eat nutrient-dense foods, your
body gets the nutrients it needs and functions much
better.
5. Salads, fruits and vegetables will give you lots
of fiber, roughage and nutrition
Eat
plenty of salds, fruits and veggies every day. This
is usually one that everybody already knows yet doesn't
normally focus on. The fiber in the foods helps keep
you from getting too hungry and helps keep your digestive
system clean.
6. Just do the best you can
It's
not always easy or convenient to follow good eating
principles. There are plenty of tasty temptations to
be found every time you turn around.
The
REAL key to proper nutrition is to focus on trying to
do well MOST of the time, not all of the time. It's
what you do most of the time that will give you the
long-term results you're looking for. Determining that
you MUST be perfect all of the time is a sure way to
set yourself up for disappointment when the time comes
that you don't eat a perfectly healthy food choice.
Sometimes,
you just have to eat those Cheesy Poofs and not worry
about it.
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For
more information on sound nutrition, I HIGHLY recommend
checking out the website of Dr. John Berardi:
http://www.fitstep.com/goto/berardi.htm
Dr.
Berardi is a well-known, highly sought-after sports
nutritionist who works with many national-level sports
teams and individuals (he nutritionally coached a number
of athletes in the last Olympic games in Italy!). His
eBook "Gourmet Nutrition" is one of the most
complete and well-put-together performance-nutrition
books I've ever read. Well worth the price!
In
fact, I thought so highly of Dr. Berardi's expertise
in sports nutrition, last year, I asked him to write
the meal plans for my "Metabolic Surge - Rapid
Fat Loss" program. Your learn more about the book
here:
http://www.fitstep.com/metabolic-surge/metabolic-surge-rapid-fat-loss.htm
