I enjoy sharing my passion for fitness and the absolute truth that no amount of time on the treadmill will offset a poor diet. It has often been said that a fit body is 70% proper diet and only 30% attributed to those sweat sessions. Now do not be confused, those sweat sessions are very important for toning and keeping that heart healthy, but a person will never fully reap the reward of a well toned body without a proper diet. So many times a person confuses a proper diet with staying between 1000 - 1200 calories. If you are a fairly active person, you are simply starving your body thin, not fit. I struggle with hypoglycemia, so learning the proper way to feed my body has been full of trial and errors. It was hard to accept a simple fact in the beginning, the more I ate, the better I felt. Eating low fat, high protein and high fiber foods often, not only makes me feel better, my body is more toned than when I was in my early twenties. It is all about planning. You must meal plan and grocery shop accordingly. Never go into the store without a list and a plan. This will inevitably lead to purchasing empty calorie foods and meals that will leave you hungry and eating more. Dedicate a few hours a week to prepping meals and snacks and be sure to have plenty of fresh fruit and veggies ready to grab and go. I personally, spend a few hours on Saturday or Sunday cooking and/or prepping meals for the week. This is my number one defense against settling for drive thru or delivery pizza on busy week nights. Between work, exercise, the children’s activities and homework, you will get thrown off track without a weekly plan.
Remember to plan Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and snacks.
Breakfast- I prefer a high quality protein shake in the blender with skim milk and lots of frozen fruit, a banana and ground flax seed for a quick nutritious breakfast option. Also, I get my full days worth of fruit by 8:00 A.M. plus tons of calcium, fiber and protein.
Lunch- Chop lots of veggies and boil eggs over the weekend. Place the chopped vegetables in separate sealed containers and toss chopped lettuce in the night before. Using the blender you can make up a variety of vinaigrettes; pour enough dressing into 5 separate small containers, so that you have pre-measured dressing. This makes for a portable nutritious lunch, do not skip the boiled egg, as you will need protein to fuel your body through your day. You could also cook lower sodium turkey bacon on the weekends to add additional flavor and protein to your salad.
Dinner- Casseroles with whole wheat pasta or rice, veggies and ground lean turkey or chicken are ideal as you can prepare these on the weekend and heat them quickly in the oven on a busy week night. Additionally, most casseroles taste better if they sit for a day or two.
Snacks- These are key to ensuring you do not over eat during the three main meals. A small handful of almonds or pistachios is ideal. Also, low fat yogurt or low fat cottage cheese makes for a great mini meal.
I eliminated sour cream, mayo, heavy creamers, sugar, white flour and salt from my kitchen. However, I have managed to create the same everyday family meals that we all grew up on by using a variety of seasonings, Greek yogurt, Healthy Request soups, low fat cheeses, whole wheat flour, Barley, whole wheat pastas, Splenda and skim milk.
Visit my blog for many recipes that focus on lower fat, higher protein substitutions to everyday meals, dressings and snacks. Flavorfulandfit.blogspot.com
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