Food is the fuel that powers our body.
We all eat. We all like to eat. But, to eat properly is to help feed your body the right nutrients so that you can perform optimally when working out in the gym.
"If you can't pick it from a tree, dig it from the ground, or catch it from the sea. You shouldn't be eating it"
Now that holds true if your options are plenty. But, at times we need to "augment" our diet with other nutrients. Such as shakes of whey protein and supplements such as creatine to name a few options. I list below 3 things that you should be doing to make sure you are fueling your body optimally.
- Set up a eating schedule: Before you go to sleep. You should be planning your meals for what you will be eating for breakfast, lunch, dinner and any snacks in between meals. By planning ahead you'll take the stress out of "binge eating" and you'll have a clearer idea as to what you should be eating before you sit down for each meal. Have your shake, cereal or fruits and yogurt all prepped so when you wake up your not scrambling around in the morning. Also, make your lunch with "leftover" from dinner. It's already cooked and you can heat and eat when it's time for lunch. Dinner should be simple. A salad with minimal dressing, a grain (brown rice).protein ( chicken, fish , lean beef, pork ) vegetable ( all of them ).
- Try the Mediterranean diet: This diet mainly consists of eating fish, plant proteins ( quinoa, couscous ), cooking with olive oil, eating olives , avocado, nuts, seeds apples , pears and oranges.
- Experiment with food: Eating the same meal all the time while good can get boring and can make you susceptible to "binging" on crappy food. You can get tired of eating the same thing over and over again. Mix things up. Add cranberries or pomegranates to your salad. Eat a protein and vegetable and no grains. Have a grain and a plant based protein. There are a number of cookbooks and recipes available that can help you "change things up" So don't get comfortable eating the same thing. Challenge your palate to taste a variety of foods and food combinations.
Fueling your body should be simple and fun. Making it complicated only makes you frustrated and less likely to stay on a healthy diet and will make any fitness changes you want to achieve ever more difficult to get.
Hope this was helpful and gave you some things to think about.
Next Level Fitness is a small private fitness facility in Oakland, CA. It is located in the Grand Lake area of Oakland. Next Level Fitness provides chiropractic, personal training and small group training services to these areas of Oakland 94610, 94611, 94602. We cater to "Every-Body" but specialize in fitness services for adults 35 (+).
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A.Pigott DC
