Hey folks…so last time in part 1 of Sep’s Take on Fat Loss, I laid down five ground rules to follow and be aware of when beginning a fat loss program. In the last article, I mentioned at the end that in part 2 I’d talk about both nutrition AND exercise. Well it seems like I bit off more than I could chew. I thought I’d be able to condense the information enough to fit both topics in one article, but 1200+ words worth of nutritional facts say different. Not to worry, I will tackle exercise needs as well but just not today. It’s like I mentioned in the first installment, fat loss is a war in which the crucial battles are won in the kitchen. So without further adieu, I give you part 2 of this series, solely focused on nutrition.
The Battles in the Kitchen
It’s hard for me NOT to go into every detail of proper nutrition. So instead I’ve decided to start from scratch (authors note: I had over 600 pages of unedited nutrition facts written but it was starting to look more like a chapter out of a textbook so I deleted everything) and instead give you another complete list of rules for how to succeed with your diet and win the “battles in the kitchen”. It’ll probably be even longer than what I had written the first time but here we go!
Rule 1) Eliminate or heavily cut down on the three C’s: Candies, Cakes, Coke. A well-known strength and conditioning coach, Kelly Baggett, coined that term. Basically the three C’s represent all those fast foods and junk foods flooding the markets these days. That means processed foods overloaded with sugars like high fructose corn syrup (a.k.a. poison), preservatives, artificial flavoring, rancid oils such as hydrogenated and partially-hydrogenated fats, and I could keep going but you get the point. It’s pretty easy to spot out these foods. Don’t let your stomach tell your brain what to buy. Ditch the junk food…
Rule 2) EAT BREAKFAST and more importantly eat a big breakfast. This one is huge. Skipping breakfast is the worst thing you can do for your body. Think about it. You’ve already gone around 8 hours without eating. By missing out on breakfast you’re starting off the day in very catabolic (muscle-breaking) state meaning increased levels of stress hormones such as cortisol, low blood sugar, low muscle and liver glycogen (fuel) and a very slow metabolism. Basically your body is in a “fat-storage” mode as a survival mechanism to preserve energy. This is obviously a very BAD thing, because then you’d be super hungry from having not eaten anything and you’ll end up eating the type of foods described in rule #1. And then guess what happens to those foods? Yep, they get stored as fat. Again, EAT BREAKFAST!
Rule 3) Filtered water should be your main beverage. Next is green tea, for the antioxidants, caffeine and fiber. That’s about it…No high-calorie fruit juices, soft drinks or any of those ridiculous energy drinks they keep coming out with on a daily basis. They’re all worthless, toxic junk. (see rule #1)
Rule 4) Eat every 2-3 hours if possible. This idea is nothing new. It used to be said that we should all eat three solid meals a day. Well the nail has long been put in the coffin of that theory. For those of you don’t know, eating smaller meals more frequently speeds up your metabolism in addition to other proven benefits such as decreased levels of stress hormones (i.e. cortisol) and other magical scientific stuff which is beyond the scope of this article and would likely put you to sleep. Eat every 2-3 hours. Nuff said…
Rule 5) Include 1-2 servings of both fruits and vegetables with EVERY meal. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of these “superfoods”. Fruits and vegetables are packed with all the powerful vitamins, minerals, and fibers your body needs; the nutritional benefits practically have no limits. They are THAT important. Be sure to go with organic sources though; you don’t want to be eating fruits and veggies sprayed with pesticides and other toxic chemicals you can’t even begin to pronounce. Another important thing to note is that 85% of the carbs in your diet will and should be coming from fruits and vegetables (complex carbohydrates with a low glycemic load). I’ll talk about the other 15% as well as the difference between simple and complex carbs later.
Rule 6) Include protein in EVERY meal. Protein is a thermogenic, meaning that it take s a lot more energy for you body to metabolize it and in doing so it somewhat heats up your body and burns more calories. Go with lean, healthy and complete sources like eggs (probably the BEST source of protein), free-range poultry, grass-fed beef, and fish (I prefer wild salmon or tuna). If you don’t eat meat then I’d go with vegetables with high amounts of protein in them like legumes, broccoli, spinach and wheat grass (a MUST for non-meat eaters and meat eaters alike). There’s also soy but you should limit its intake, if not, avoid it altogether. Note that a lot of foods contain some amounts of protein in them but they are incomplete and/or minuscule amounts. The ones listed above are those which contain complete proteins with all the essential amino acids in them.
Rule 7) Simple carbs with a high glycemic load should only be consumed during breakfast and post-workout. This is the other 15% of your carbohydrate intake I was talking about in rule #4. Now by simple carbs I mean carbohydrates which raise your blood-sugar levels fairly high, which in turn, cause your pancreas to release insulin accordingly to bring them back down. Simple carbs are foods high in sugar content. Basically all junk foods are simple carbs but you DON’T want those for obvious reasons (see rule #1). I’m talking about grains like pasta and breads and certain fruits and vegetables like squash, sweet potatoes, raisins and bananas. When your glycogen stores are low (during breakfast and after your work out), these are the best times to be consuming foods high in sugar—simple carbs. They spike your insulin levels, and since insulin acts as a messanger hormone to deliver these nutrients to your muscles and liver, the carbs don’t get stored as fat. However if you eat foods high G.L. (glycemic load) foods any other time of the day you are at risk of this happening, which is why you want to eat COMPLEX carbohydrates (most fruits and vegetables with the exception of the ones I listed above). So basically to summarize this, eat your fruits and greens most of the time and your breads, pasta, potatoes either in the morning or after your workout. Make sense? Hope I didn’t lose you guys there. Boy, did that rule take the longest to explain.
Rule 8) I was about to end it on 7 but I remembered the most underrated topic of all—fat consumption. Alright I’ll try my best to make this one short even though it probably deserves the longest explanation. Get your daily fill of fats! When it comes to fat intake you should shoot for an equal consumption of saturates, polyunsaturates and monounsaturates. The saturated fats come mainly from animal fats which you get when consuming your protein from poultry, beef and fish. There are some healthy saturated oils too like virgin coconut and macadamia nut oil, again for you picky plant-eaters. As for polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats, the best source for these are a good fish oil supplement which contains the essential fatty acids, DHA and EPA, (both of which are omega-3 polyunsaturated fats) and a good ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 (monounsaturated) fatty acids. Don’t worry too much over the names and which types of fats you are getting. Just stick with a good fish oil supplement like I explained and also consume foods like mixed nuts (pecans, almonds, walnuts), avocados and extra-virgin olive oil, which is best taken cold on salads or in sandwhiches (it does not stand well in heat and can easily break down, become rancid and lose its nutritional benefits).
Phew! So there you have eight rules for success in the kitchen and ultimately with your body transformation. In the third and final installment of this series I will address proper exercise protocol for fat loss…
