If you came to talk to me at the Club, you know that I stick to my philosophy and nutrition approach. Before that, I shifted many of my strategies in order to best target these 3 main objectives: health, workout performance (supporting my training), and body composition (keeping lean and optimizing fat loss). One element that has always been a key to my success is my happiness as it relates to my diet. It’s not just about carbs and proteins and calories – it also has to be about whether or not, on a whole host of levels you actually enjoy your diet. Call me crazy but I want to enjoy preparing and eating my super clean healthy food.
Food is not just an energysource. Food is also about enjoyment, creativity, expression and social interaction. We should enjoy the creative process of preparing our meals as much as we enjoy eating them and sharing them with our friends and family.
So having these 4 goals in mind: health, workout performance, body composition and happiness, I have decided to stick to my nutrition approach. Before joining the staff of Club Fitness , I was sharing my progress and recipes that inspired me from a great read by Michael Pollans book In Defense of Food.
Every once a while I will be posting my own thoughts and talking to you guys on a personal level, but for a start here is a quick sum up the rules to my approach:
1. Eat foods from the superfoodslist, and avoid processed food as much as possible.
2. Eat as many fresh veggies as possible.
3. Complex carbs and fruit in moderation.
4. Try to include protein in every meal. This does not mean that you have to eat meat with every meal. You can use a protein supplement or you can get your protein from other whole food sources.
5. Drink water as your go-to beverage. Avoiding processed foods also means avoiding artificial sweeteners and soft drinks.
6. Dairy in moderation.
7. 1-2 glasses of dry red wine a night if you so choose.
If the word “moderation” throws you into a fit of panic and uncertainty – relax. This is about balance so eat for energy not for storage. Most portion sizes are huge. I often easily split a single restaurant portion meant for just 1 person. Use your hands to measure your portions and you won’t go wrong.
As a general rule:
1. Meat portions should be the size of the palm of your hand (2 palms for guys).
2. Veggies – 2 hands cupped together (but basically you can eat as many veggies as you like).
3. Bread – 1 slice of whole wheat bread per meal.
4. Potatoes ,Pasta, Rice, Oats etc – 1 cupped hand (cooked).
5. Fruits – I enjoy fruit 1-2x per day – a piece in the morning and a piece for a snack later in the day.
Cheat days are out – moderationwill also apply towards deserts and sweets. I am not in the habit of eating deserts on a regular basis anyway, and I may choose to enjoy a small piece of dark chocolate with my coffee now and then. Obviously you have to strike a balance between your diet and your goals, but we can enjoy a treat now and then.
So to sum up this post: Use your hands to control your portions and everything in moderation.
Have a great weekend and leave some comments for us to read :)
Here is again a short list of some superfoods:
Protein – lean red meat, salmon, fat free greek – plain yogurt, black beans, tempeh, kidney beans, low fatcottage cheese, chicken breasts, turkey breasts, protein supplements (whey protein isolates, milk protein isolates, or rice protein isolates)
Veggies and Fruits – spinach, tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, oranges, mixed berries, lettuce, bananas, grapefruits, cucumbers, kale, collards,
Other Carbs – mixed beans, quinoa, whole oats, amaranth, brown rice
Good Fats – mixed nuts, avocados, extra virgin olive oil, fish oil, flax seeds (ground), coconut milk,
Drinks – unsweetened green tea, water
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