So! We have established that one must drink plenty of water the next thing to tackle is the food!
Food needs to be your friend and not something you are constantly trying to battle with. I'm going to assume that your goal is to lose a little body fat and achieve some muscle definition (this is what I assume clients mean when they ask about 'toning up').
As mentioned in my 'Golden Rules' the key is to eat frequently, i.e. every three hours commencing within 1 hour of waking. Breakfast and the second meal (call it brunch is you like!) are the key's to revving up your metabolism. If your go for long periods i.e. longer than 4 hours without eating, your body assumes that this is the start of a famine and begins it's highly irritating defence mechanism of storing fat! This would be great if we lived in caves and jungles and had to chase our food with sticks, however we need to let the body know that there is plenty of food available! Once the body is confident that there are nutrient rich foods coming in ON A REGULAR BASIS, then your body will relinquish those fat stores and let you use them for fuel!
3 REASONS TO EAT FREQUENTLY!!!!
1. Eating burns calories!
the process of digestion requires energy, so the more you do it, the more energy you use. This is especially true if you consume foods which are more difficult to break down such as protein and complex high fibre carbohydrates. Simple sugars like sweets, white bread, cakes etc. are easily digested and use less energy to break down so this on top of the fact that they are high in calories make them foods to avoid.
2. If the body is regularly fed then it is more willing to release fat as it is not then worrying about the possibility of a famine. If you regularly go for long periods without eating your metabolism slows right down making long term fat loss harder and increasing the likelihood of future weight gain.
3. If you eat every 3 hours, then the chances are you won't feel hungry. You are more likely to make a detrimental food choice if you allow yourself to become too hungry. The reason for this is that the body begins to feel deprived of nutrients, so it then craves a quick fix....sugar! This is the reason office workers often head for the vending machine at 11am and at 3pm. Tradition has taught us to eat 3 meals per day but people tend to end up craving the wrong types of food in between the meals set by 'society'!! Therefore, if you plan to eat 3 hours after breakfast and 3 hours after lunch then you will combat the cravings and will be more
likely to make sensible food choices!! I speak from experience here as I used to be one of the biggest chocolate consumers on the planet so if I can be converted, anyone can!!Great! So the good news is that you get to eat frequently throughout the day, however eating 6 pizzas a day probably isn't going to be the way forward if your goal is to improve your shape.
You quite literally are what you eat! your body uses protein from food to build and repair skin hair, muscles, bones, nails, teeth etc. Therefore if you eat a lot of junk, then your body will be built and repaired from a lot of junk, and you will feel like a lot of junk and probably end up looking like a lot of junk somewhere down the line!!
The key is to include so much healthy, nutrient rich whole food in your diet that you end up having little or no room left for junk (Stop saving room for dessert!!)!! The advantage of this approach or attitude is that good diet stops being an issue of avoiding the things that you think you like. Eventually you end up forgetting about the foods which have a negative impact on your body. When you have been eating healthy for a considerable amount of time (4 weeks or more), and then eat some junk food it often tastes nowhere near as good as you thought, and often makes you fell nauseous after eating it!!!
My suggested Banned Foods List
McDonald's, BK, KFC, Pizza Hut, pretty much most takeout!!
Sweets (Candy to US & Canada), Chocolate, Cakes, Ice cream and similar!!
White bread!
Biscuits (Cookies to US & Canada)
Crisps (Chips US & Canada ha ha!)
Ready meals!
Cheese and cream!
Pretty much anything high in sugar, saturated fat, starch or heavily processed!
My suggested Approved Foods List
Carbohydrates____________ ..... Protein
Sweet potatoes_______________ ...... Eggs
Potatoes____________________ ..... Chicken
Oats _______________________..... Lean red meat
Brown rice __________________ ...... Fish
Rye bread___________________ ..... Seeds, nuts, pulses
Fruit & veg__________________ ...... Soy
The food list usually raises many questions such as: 'what about yoghurt??' 'what about alcohol??' 'what about cottage cheese????' 'what about chocolate with raisins in it, does that count as fruit????????' 'The approved list looks so boring, will I die of food boredom??
So please go ahead and ask me, and when I have a good bunch of questions I will publish SUMMER IS COMING!!!!!!! Part 3.
which will go into more detail based on the questions I get!!
Enjoy your healthy eating and water drinking!!
