Have you tried different ridiculous diets and quit because it was completely impractical? I want to share with you all you need to know about the practical diet. It consists of making a bunch of small healthy decisions that make your daily diet something to be proud of. The first thing that you need to realize about eating is that it’s really just an extension of your training. We just briefly covered the basic importance of resistance training and cardio, but without good nutrition you are basically wasting your time. I don’t want to make you think this will be harder than it really is. It’s actually very easy to make small decisions that make up the practical diet, so just hear me out.
Here is an example that you may relate to: You may have a decent looking car but you want to spiff it up a little bit. If you don’t, just use your imagination for a minute. Let’s say you want to make the car look and perform better. You can put a spoiler on the back, repaint the car, and put a whole new body kit on the car to make it look really cool. Although, if you don’t put the right gas in the tank then you can’t drive it, so what is the point? Think of yourself as the car. The combination of cardiovascular and resistance training will give you the ability to put on the body kit of your choice, but whatever you eat is the gas. If you don’t put the right stuff in your body you will not have enough energy to workout, and your body will not have what it needs to give you the right results.
Here is a way to keep this whole process really easy and practical so you can keep up with it in your busy life. Have you ever heard the phrase, “you are what you eat” ? That statement could not be more true. Think about whatever your putting into your body. If you are eating nothing but fried, greasy foods that have no nutritional value, then you are basically asking your body to resemble that. If you are eating lean meats, whole grains and a lot of vegetables with vitamins, your body will feel great and resemble that choice. Every time you decide to put something in your mouth just think about where it came from and ask yourself, “is this something that I want my body to resemble”?
Here are some super basic tips:
What to eat: Chicken, fish, and turkey are all lean meats that are a good way to get protein into your diet. Yogurt and eggs are also a good snack that are packed with protein. They are also very cheap in the grocery store. You can basically eat unlimited vegetables per day. Vegetables are low in sugar and have lots of vitamins. Fruits are also a great source of vitamins but they tent to have a lot more sugar. Use fruit as a way to satisfy your sweet tooth but don’t go too crazy. Usually with pasta and bread you have a choice between white and whole grain. Whole grain is always the better choice. It keeps you full longer and has more nutritional value. When you are using dressing on your salads or other foods use tomato sauces or oil based dressing. Nuts and Olive oil are a great way to get good fats into your diet. You need fats, but the right kinds.
What NOT to eat: Stay away from fried foods. Salami, bacon, and fatty steaks hams and porks are a poor choice of protein because they are not as lean. Sweets are always a bad choice because it spikes your insulin levels and can cause diabetes if you are not careful. Stay away from white pasta and bread especially if you are not very active. It has lots of carbohydrates much not much of anything else. Creamy sauces and dressings added to your salad and other foods are a poor choice. They are usually loaded with fats that are not the best for you.
When you read about nutrition it can be very frustrating. Many sources that attempt to educate you on how to eat can make you feel really stupid because you don’t understand what they are talking about, not to mention, what they ask you to do is completely impractical considering that most of us have a million other things going on in our daily lives. I’m sure you don’t have the time to keep track of what time your body is releasing specific hormones throughout the day, which dictate what foods you need to eat at certain times. If you have the time for that then that’s awesome! Keep reading and I will surely get into some of that with you in later articles. For the majority of you, keep a positive mind set. I want to let you know that you don’t have to make it complicated at all to get results.
These are just some super basic tips, but it’s really all you need to know about the practical diet. Every time you have a choice between two foods think about your motivation. Make multiple small decisions in your diet every day and it will add up. You will notice a difference I promise! We will get into more specific diet tips later on, but next lets get you started with your exercises. Tweet at us with the healthy decisions that you make today!
About Adam Pegg
