Loulou and Ntombi have asked me to share what I do and what I know about clean food but I decided to combine it with fitness and other things. I will share what works for me and how to get and stay motivated.
DIETS DO'S AND DONT'S
FOOD is the most difficult thing for most of us!! we love it we want to eat and when we don't we feel we are depriving ourselves and so we talk ourselves into eating it because "we only live once", "this one time wont hurt me", "If I just get it out of the way I wont want it anymore" sound familiar? so here are a few tips on dieting and staying on track.
PLEASE DON'T DIET!. Dieting is insane and always ends up being harder than anticipated to stay on track for any length of time so stop it. Instead of dieting just change your eating habits because dieting is temporary but life changes are what will keep you in the state you want to be in always.
What you can Do: Stop eating fast food and drinking cool drink! Only drink WATER or fresh juice, replace white rice with brown rice, add veggies to your lunch and supper, if you can't pronounce it don't buy it and don't eat it and try to buy organic, free range protein when possible. If you want to enjoy something when out with friends or when you feel the urge you can eat it in MODERATION and only once maybe twice a week. Try and avoid eating anything that is processed and honestly fresh and clean food always taste better.
When trying to lose weight remove the carbs except for good ones (usually found in veggies) and still allow yourself maybe corn for dinner or lunch or potatoes once or twice a week (usually during lunch) try to stay away from pasta and bread during these times but if NOT trying to lose weight and just maintaining you can eat what you want with a 80%-20% ratio; 80% clean and fresh 20% not so clean and fresh.
Here is a sample food day for me:
Breakfast: Juice (handful of spinach or kale, 1/2 lemon a small chunk of ginger and 1 apple) or Cantaloupe juice with a lemon wedge (it helps clear your skin) and if you eat eggs you can have 2 hard boiled eggs and 1 slice of whole wheat toast.
Lunch: I love salads and always add protein so a chicken or tuna salad.
Dinner: Lean steak and veggies or grilled chicken and veggies and if I feel I need something starchy I'll have brown rice or potatoes, brown rice and beans (3/4 cup rice only).
For my snacks I usually have a few almonds, yoghurt, crackers or dried fruit.
The thing to remember is to PUT MORE GOOD IN YOUR BODY THAN BAD!
SUPPLEMENTS
Some bodies do not respond to cardio alone so if you know this you need to combine cardio with strength training. I run and I do a bit of strength training and because I do this I take just a few supplements, here is what I include for nutrition purposes during my training:
Betavit (Multivitamin)
Devils Claw(For joints)
Omega 3 (helps to retain water on your knees)
Calcium Complete the Clicks brand (for pain on your knees and ankles)
EXERCISE AND ROUTINES
You can do a million sit ups and crunches BUT if you don't EAT RIGHT you might as well give up. Abs come from what you eat and the muscles in your abs become visible from the loss of fat, the more fat you have in your belly the less you will see your abs. LOSE THE FAT, EAT FRESH AND CLEAN FOODS along with your full body workouts you will start to see your abs. I cant stress this enough, CLEAN AND FRESH FOOD = ABS. Yes, crunches and sit ups and hard ab work will shape increase and define your abs but if you don't eat the right foods you wont see the change, plain and simple.
We can discuss what to include kwi grocery list and different exercise routines kwi comments section otherwise the article will be too long....
By Anga
