Healthy Eating

I try to refrain from using the word "diet". There seems to be a negative connection with that word. Eating less, being hungry, feeling tired during workouts, binging and giving up only to start again a few months later. You can likely relate because we've all been there. Going forward we are going to talk about eating healthy..

I did a survey with members recently. The first three questions were; 1. What are your goals, A) fat loss B) muscle gain or c) weight maintenance. Question 2. Do you understand caloric balance and question 3. in the last 60 days has your weight, A) increased B) decreased or C) stayed the same. Now, it got tricky when a majority of people stated they understood caloric balance but their last 60 days of weight fluctuations stated otherwise.

We have had meeting in the past talking about macros, whole 30, etc.

What I want to do today and going forward for the time being is how to simplify nutrition.

Every meal should contain a protein, carb, fat, and fiber.

Your protein sources can vary from; chicken breasts, lean ground turkey, lean ground beef, fish, shrimp, egg whites, etc.

Your carb sources could be; white or sweer potatoes, whole wheat or brown rice pasta, white or brown rice, quinoa, couscous, lentils, oatmeal, corn or flour tortillas, etc.

Your fats should come from; olive oil, canola oil, butter, salad dressing, peanut butter, etc.

Your fiber is found in carbs which is why it's important to eat from high qaulity sources (oatmeal, sweet potatoes, veggies, etc.)

A meal could look like this

Option 1:

Chicken Breast

Baked sweet potato with 1T butter or peanut butter

Asparagus

Option 2:

3 egg whites

apple cinnamon oatmeal packet

1/2 T butter

Option 3:

Lean beef

whole wheat pasta

tomato sauce

side salad with ranch

A lot of you might already be doing this, and if you are and you're not seeing results it's time to invest in a food scale.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ozeri-Pronto-Digital-Multifunction-Kitchen-and-Food-Scale/37531706

A food scale will help you portion out your meals so that your serving sizes are accurate for the goal you are trying to achieve.

For example, a serving of your typical pasta noodles is 2 ounces and contains 41grams of carbs. Thats about a serving size for a very active female, or a moderatly active 185lb male.

If you workout 2x week and your goal is fat loss then you should do roughly half of a serving which is 1 oz or 20 grams of carbs. A food scale will help you weigh out your portion so that you don't over eat.

So this weeks homework if to balance out your meals, I enjoy seeing ya'lls pictures in the SASC Nutriton group. If a meal isn't balanced and you share some pictures or meal ideas I can always message you or comment on yout thread with ideas to help you acheive your goals.

I understang that sometimes it feels frustrating, overwhelming, stressful, and even bland. The more you do it, the better you'll get. You'll soon find that you won't crave fast food as much and instead prefer taking the time to cook something at home to give your body the nutrition it deserves.