Welcome to the first of 10 steps that will prime you to set out on your own exciting and successful health and fitness journey.
STEP 1 : EATING FOR SUCCESS!
In your introductory email “Five Things I Wish I’d Known About Fat Loss”, I touched on the important notion of eating more frequently. Food is powerful information that programmes your body for success of failure. Every time you eat well, you have the opportunity to burn fat, retain and build muscle, slow the aging process and bring back that youthful health and vitality you dream about!
So how do we construct those small, frequent meals that will programme your body for success?
It’s actually pretty straight forward. Each meal should contain:
Protein
Carbohydrates
A source of omega-3 fats
Protein
For most of you, this might mean an increase in the amount of protein you consume on any given day. But don’t worry, increasing the proportion of protein in the diet has been shown to promote a number of important health benefits such as better fat loss by curbing hunger pangs and cravings, stabilising blood sugar levels and stimulating the number of calories released as heat. It also helps preserve valuable existing muscle mass.
Some proteins are better than others - look for proteins with a lower fat content (less that 10%) - lean beef mince, chicken, leaner pork cuts, lamb, all kinds of fish, shellfish, whole eggs and egg whites in cartons, low fat dairy such as low fat cottage cheese, milk and yogurt.
And how much is the right amount? Think about a piece about the size of your palm in both width and thickness.
Carbohydrates
All carbohydrate originate from plant foods (things that grow from the ground – fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes). Which carbohydrates we consume most of, has a big influence on how our metabolism works. To programme our metabolism for success we need to focus on eating more unrefined vegetables, fruits and legumes. These nutrient-dense, calorie-sparse choices are essential for a meal that promotes muscle recovery, sustained energy and efficient fat loss. All of which add up to faster results!
Conversely we want to limit our intake of processed carbohydrates such as breads, breakfast cereals, pasta etc. These foods provide a lot of energy to the body very quickly, often more than we can use, which results in the excess being stored as fat.
How much should we eat? To get started aim for a serving at least the size of your own fist or 1 cup.
Omega-3 Fats
There are two families of fats Omega 3 and Omega 6. Our western diet typically contains far too many omega 6 fats. This imbalance promotes chronic inflammation which underlines a number of unrelated health problems such as unwanted weight gain, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and depression. To shift this imbalance, we need to consume more Omega-3 fats and less Omega-6 fats.
Where do we find omega-3 fats? Excellent sources are seafood especially oily fish such as salmon, tuna, mackerel etc. Other Omega-3 rich foods are canola oil, soya beans, dark leafy green vegetables, chia & hemp seeds and some nuts such as walnuts. Flaxoil, flaxmeal and fish oil (capsules) are especially rich in Omega-3.
As well as increasing omega 3s we need to try to reduce our omega 6 intake. One simple way to do this is to reduce the amount of vegetable oils (eg. safflower, sunflower, peanut, corn, sesame oil) we use in cooking and other food preparations.
Your Prime for Success step for this week is to make at least 1 ‘success’ meal every day
It may sound complicated but you are probably already getting it right more often you think! Here are some simple examples:
Omelet or scrambled eggs with spinach, grilled tomato and mushroom and a splash of flaxoil
Tinned tuna (packed in springwater not oil) with salad, splash of olive oil, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar
Salmon steaks with skewers of veggies (zucchini, capsicum, onion) grilled on the BBQ
Beef stir-fry with a splash of flax-oil (pictured)
Slow-cooked lamb and vegetables – add flax oil before serving
Low fat, high protein yogurt (eg Chobani) with fresh fruit and flaxmeal sprinkled over
Well done! You have just taken another important step to prime yourself for a successful transformation!
I look forward to catching up with you soon!
Ro
