Monday, June 10, 2013

More nutrition tips! How to eat 101

How to eat 101- Smart eating habits to help you achieve your goals!



Do not starve yourself. Not eating shocks your body into thinking it needs to preserve fat due to a lack of food. Your metabolism slows as a result and you will be miserable.

Eat Eat Eat - Contrary to how it sounds, eating actually helps you to lose weight. However, you can not eat junk and empty calories and expect this to work. We will get into the specifics of what to eat further down. But for now, let this be your guideline. Try to eat 3 main meals and 3 small snacks. Also, remember your body will only use what it needs and then will store the rest as fat so eliminate
the huge meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Try to keep a consistent influx of nutrients throughout the day.

Breakfast counts - Breaking the Fast is very important for your body. According to Todd Durkins' Impact Body Plan book, "researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School found that those who didn't regularly eat breakfast were 450% percent more likely to be obese than those who start their day off with a meal." That says a lot don't you think. Our body repairs itself when it sleeps, so it is in need of nutrients when we wake up. It is important that we provide those nutrients first thing of the morning! 


Eat Fresh when possible - Fresh is better than Frozen, which is better than canned. Always try to eat fresh vegetables and fruit when available. Try to consume fresh vegetables with every meal. I even go as far as to say eat as much vegetables in a meal as you want. They are low in calories, high in fiber, and contain a variety of great nutrients that our bodies need. Try to avoid canned goods as much as possible as they are full of sodium and other preservatives. 

Let's talk snacks. - Nuts are  a great option. Try to let your snacks consist of a fat or protein source. These keep you feeling full. When you snack on chips and cookies, ever notice that you don't start to feel full until you have eaten the whole bag? Additionally, they are full of things that have no real benefit for your body.





White ain't right! - White rice, flour, sugar, pasta, all of these have a more nutritional counterpart



Let's start with liquids and what to drink - The obvious choices are to avoid sugary colas, and processed fruit juices. Instead opt for water, vegetable juice, coconut water, nut milks, and green teas. Alcohol should be avoided and I personally don't recommend cow milk either. Try coconut milk, almond milk, cashew milk, or even goat milk. 

Other things to avoid- Sugar, high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweetners (these hide under the names, Aspartame, Sucralose, Saccharin, and acesulfame-K), 
 

courtesy of ucsf.edu







courtesy of en.wikipedia.org
Did I mention, eat more fruit!? - Many fruits and leafy vegetables put your system into a metabolic flux. What this means is, it takes more calories to break down the food than the actual food contains. So it creates a negative calorie surplus. How great is that!? You can enjoy the food, get full, and it will have a very minimal effect on your calorie count. And some people wind about the sugar content
of fruits! This is just my opinion but I don't worry about that one bit. The natural sugars contained in fruit are beneficial to your body and of better quality than regular table sugar or   
                                                              those artificial sweetners. 

I will continue to post updates and additions to this list as time permits but I hope this gets you on the right track. Thanks for reading and feel free to add your other tips or things that work for you!

-Mark B Fitness


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