Top Nutritional Tips For Best Body Composition
- Shop mostly in the outer part of the grocery store where the fresh produce, meats, and milk products/eggs are.
- Do not skip breakfast (keep an eye on sugar and refined flour products!)
- Try to eat several smaller meals or snacks instead of two to three large ones.
- Eat more almonds, walnuts, pecans and pistachios (good cholesterol lowering fats).
- Eat fruits and vegetables of all colors. Each has a different antioxidant profile.
- Avoid sodas, sweet drinks and fruits juices (fruit sounds healthy but the juice part brings in too many sugars). Consuming sugar daily can affect your metabolism, create insulin resistance, make you fat, and have all kinds of negative health consequences. Watch this lecture about the damaging effects of sugar and fructose: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM
- Drink lots of water.
- Eat a high protein, complex carbohydrate- rich meal after work outs.
- Manage your intake of caffeine (it reduces appetite but can increase anxiety). Do not have any caffeine after 4 pm
- Get a slow cooker so that you come back from work to a warm meal. They come with great cook books.
- Cook for the week and freeze in individual serving sized containers.
- Reduce saturated (animal) fats, fried foods and hydrogenated oils to a minimum
- Use good fats: olive oil, nuts, and avocados.
- Minimize hidden sugars like fructose (sweets, sodas, and many processed foods are high in fructose corn syrup). Read the labels of food you buy.
- Eat adequate amounts (0.7-1 gm/lb/day) of protein (fish, eggs,cottage cheese, lean meats, chicken, whey, yogurt, nuts, etc).
- Eat more high-fiber, nutrient and fluid-rich, low calorie, low glycemic carbs like: Oatmeal, multi-grain breads, vegetables, fruits, roots, greens, wild rice and beans. If you do not consume at least 20 grams of fiber a day, supplement with supplements like Citrucell or Benefiber purchased in any grocery store.
- Healthy grocery shopping list:
o Mix of almonds and other nuts
o Beans and other legumes (you can buy frozen ones)
o Spinach and other green leafy vegetables
o Broccoli and cabbage
o Low fat dairy, yogurt (Greek style, no sugar added)
o Hummus
o Whey protein
o Oatmeal (not the little packets; those are loaded with sugars)
o Eggs (free range or Omega 3 enriched if possible)
o Lean meats
o Salmon, sardines and tuna
o Whole grain breads and pasta
o Peanut, almond, and cashew butters without hydrogenated oil (the healthy nut butters show oil and butter separated since the lack of hydrogenated oils prevents emulsification)
o Olive oil and avocados
o Raspberries and all berries. Whole fruits (remember no juices). You can buy frozen ones and add to whey protein shakes
o Occasional glass of red wine per day (optional)
o Pumpkin and sunflower seeds
o Sweet potatoes and wild rice (the darker the rice, the better)
o Benefiber
o Green tea
o Reduced fat milk (if you are not lactose intolerant)
More details in this short video: