Where to start with your new goals or what goals to set?
Well, there is only one place to start. It’s all about the diet. The truth about diet is that you cannot out run or out work a bad one.
We all read the articles that have titles like “Five things to watch out for” or “Ten things to eat to make us skinny.”
Well let’s talk about what the body needs. The body strives for homeostasis (balance) in all things. Since we’re talking about diet, this balance requires three things: fats (omega 3s and 6s), protein and carbohydrates.
Yes, it’s really that simple, ask your doctor. So eat from those categories, but don’t over eat. The rule of thumb is protein (meats) the size of your palm, carbs (fruits and veggies) the size of a flat hand and last, your fats (nuts and seeds) about a hand full a day.
You also want to start picking leaner meats (such as chicken over a hot dog), better carbs (such as salad over cheesecake) and better fats (such as avocado over Crisco). Start doing this with consistency and watch out.
You will start feeling better, have more energy, get better sleep and perform better in other areas of your life.
The diet is huge, but we don’t have to clean out the old pantry in one day. Let’s just stop buying some old stuff, such as soft drinks and processed foods, and start introducing new foods into your home.
The best way to shop for our food is to stay on the perimeter of the grocery store, as little isles as possible (that’s where all the cookies are). Don’t get down on yourself if you slip up here and there, we all do it.
With that in mind, we have to still indulge in the foods that we love (cheat meals), but that should only be once a week. It should also be balanced and portions should be controlled and it’s just one meal not a whole day. But I’m not giving us any excuses.
As I spoke about in the first column, this lifestyle is hard work, but hard work always pays off.
Now that we have the basic concepts of what we need in order to build a healthy and fit lifestyle, let’s take a look at ways to increase are knowledge and fitness.
The next step is to learn about our glycemic index. This is a great topic to increase our health.
Diets can always get better and there is a fine balance in putting on lean muscle and trimming down fat. Carbohydrates are the fast way to put on fat, and we don’t want that.
The western culture is notorious for indulging in carbohydrates at every meal, which is a bad thing because it’s not balanced. Let’s study our glycemic index to see how much more dialed in we can become.
If we take out high glycemic foods with low ones, the sugar will gradually enter our blood stream and not spike our insulin as high. A secondary perk is from low glycemic index foods are more filling than high foods such as bread (high) compared to if you eat carbs with a low glycemic index you will feel less hungry, plus it will provide you with more energy.
If you search glycemic index, multiple charts and glycemic index calculators will be available for you to help with this.
Daniel St. Clair is the owner of CrossFit Efficacious at 3333 Reno Highway Ste. #77 in Fallon.