My Nutrition Advice

A week ago my cute friend Charee from high school called me to pick my brain about nutrition and fitness. She asked me if I would write up a meal plan for her of examples of what I eat everyday so she could get some new ideas. Since I took the time to do it I thought I would post it here on my blog too. I have always been really into healthy eating and working out so over the years I believe I have gained a lot of knowledge on the subject. So if you have had it with dieting and still want to lose some weight and most importantly be happy with your body OR maby just get some new healthy meal ideas then read on......

First off let me say that I DO NOT BELIEVE IN DIETING. I have learned this the hard way, but now I'm so glad I have seen the light. I'm not into deprivation or torture. Nothing is worse then going to dinner with friends and everyone is enjoying themselves eating burgers, pasta and cheese fries and and your eating chicken breast and broccoli. I don't think its worth depriving yourself of everything you want to eat just to be leaner for a time. I want to be happy in ALL areas of my life. I want to eat whatever I want and also be happy with my body and guess what I am, I really really am. Below the meal plan options I'll tell you how.






Breakfast:

Option 1: ½ cup oatmeal (dry) then I put in rice milk, little bit of agave nectar to sweeten it, a dash of cinnamon and a teaspoon full of flax meal for some healthy omega 3 fats. I also have a small handful of walnuts with it for protein.

Option 2: 1 cup Kashi go lean crunch cereal with rice milk and cut up banana on top (this cereal has a lot of protein so you don’t need a extra protein source

Option 3: Protein shake ( 1 cup soy milk, 1 scoop Jillian Michaels chocolate protein powder, ½ a banana, 1 TBS natural peanut butter, ice) its SOOOOOO yummy

Option 4: 1 egg plus 2 additional egg whites scrambled, 1 slice whole grain bread toasted topped with natural peanut or almond butter and natural jelly or honey/agave nectar, 1 cup skim milk (or lowfat milk)


Lunch:

Option 1: Tuna sandwich on 100% whole grain bread, I use veginaise instead of mayo to mix into the tuna and also some sweet midget pickles, then I put more veginaise on the bread too. I like it moist, I can’t gag down a dry tuna sandwich, top with lettuce. 6 whole grain crackers ( I love the blue star farms ones from Costco) with 1 laughing cow cheese wedge

Option 2 : Veggie burger sandwich on 100% whole grain bread. I love the garden burger brand original ones, I get them at Costco. I cook it in a small pan on the stove top (takes 10 min) I put veginaise and mustard on the bread, top with lettuce. Handful of Kettle potato chips and maby a handful of grapes

Option 3: Big salad, bed of spinach or romaine lettuce, 3-4 oz lean meat or fish ( I use salmon a lot or shrimp) all the veggies you want, sunflower seeds, I love blue cheese dressing or ranch so I’ll use that but only put it on about 1/3 of the salad (about 1 TBS) then I put balsamic vinegar on the rest. Add ¾ cup brown rice or a half a sweet potato on the side

Option 4: Big salad, bed of spinach or romaine lettuce, ½ cup or so of kidney beans, raisens, sunflower seeds, all the veggies you want, same dressings as above. ½ cup of low fat cottage cheese on side topped with manderin oranges OR 6 oz cup Yoplait greek yogert ( I love the strawberry)

Option 5: Protein shake (same as breakfast one)

Snacks:

Option 1: 1 Lara bar (I get the big pack at Costco)

Option 2: 1 Kashi go lean crunch bar (Costco)

Option 3: ½ a banana with 1 TBS peanut butter or half a apple with 1 TBS pb

Option 4: 1 piece muffin bread, I LOVE this stuff. This is one of those weight loss gems. Super healthy, high protein and low carb. Top it with some PB and natural jelly. This is also as good as a protein bar and its much cheaper, those protein bars can get expensive. You could have a piece of this in addition to your oatmeal in the morning as your protein source also.

Muffin bread recipe Ingredients:
3 cups egg whites (big carton at wal-mart is the cheapest I have found it)
1 1/2 cups whole raw oats
3 tablespoons Agave nectar or raw sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla
10 shakes of cinnamon
1/2 cup flaxseed meal

Spray big cookie sheet with Pam
Blend together all ingredients in blender
Pour mixture into pan
Sprinkle top with whole oats,(optional)
Bake at 375 for 25 minutes
Cool and cut into 15 squares

Option 4: small glass of fresh juice (have to have a juicer for this) I like carrot/apple/spinach
Option 5: 1 light string cheese, 10 almonds
Option 6: 1 light string cheese, 6 whole grain crackers
Option 7: Hummus (1/4 cup or so) and veggies ie.. mini carrots, celery, broccoli
Option 8: 6 oz yoplait greek yogert cup OR Fage brand 0% greek yogert ( I get it at sunflower market ) just add some agave nectar or other sweetener to it

Dinner:
Option 1: 3-4 oz salmon (I love the frozen atlantic salmon, blue bag from Costco) I just thaw and bake in the oven at 350 F for 20 min, half a sweet potato OR ¾ cup brown rice, steamed broccoli OR a side of salad

Option 2: 3-4 oz shrimp (again frozen pre cooked bag at Costco orange bag, Kirkland brand) you just thaw it in the fridge and its ready to go. Put t on 1 cup whole grain pasta with a spoonful of pesto (costco) for sauce add a salad on side
Option 3: Either of the big salads mentioned for lunch

Option 4: Spagetti: Whole grain noodles, ground turkey breast OR lean ground beef OR morning star veggies crumbles with 1 or 2 costco meatballs for the protein source (I’ve used each one, I like all of them, just depends on what your in the mood for) for the sauce I get the McCormick Italian style dry packet and follow the directions on there or if you want to buy bottled just make sure its not to high in sugar or sodium and doesn’t have high fructose corn syrup in it. If you do the veggie crumbles with the meatballs (the reason I use both is because the meatballs are fattening but so yummy so thats why I just use 1 or 2 but its not enough protein so I add the veggie crumbles) they are both pre cooked so all I do it make up the sauce in a pan then add veggie crumbles and meatballs to it and the heat from the sauce cooking will thaw the meatballs/crumbles so you don’t have to cook it in a separate pan, this is the one I usually do lately.

Option 5: Pita Pizza: One whole grain pita sliced length wise to you have 2 round discs (you can use those Oro wheat sandwich thins too, in fact I'd recommend them more then a pita but either works just fine). Preheat oven to 350 F, put pitas on a cookie sheet and bake for 2 minutes so they are slightly toasted. Take back out and spread marinara sauce on the bumpy side, 1 light string cheese or regular I actually just prefer the taste of the light, all the veggies you want ie.. olives, onions, bell pepper, mushrooms etc… and a protein source, I like pepperoni because its pizza and all. Bake for 15 min or until cheese in golden brown. SO YUMMY ☺ ps don’t use to much sauce on the pitas or they will get soggy while their baking.

Option 6: Healthy turkey mini meat loafs ( the recipe is a few blog posts down) pair with some veggies and a complex carb (ie brown rice, sweet potato as mentioned about above)



OK I have 3 key points in making this meal plan successful

#1 Make sure you are eating every 2 -3 hours, when you are hungry but DO NOT wait until you are starving.

My day looks like this:

10am: Breakfast
1pm: lunch
3-4pm: snack
4pm: I go to the gym
530-6pm: post workout snack
630-7pm: dinner

As long as I stick to this I make healthy food choices for the most part, I’m always satisfied and never hungry.
Obviously you don’t have to follow this schedule verbatim, if you have a longer period between breakfast and lunch then I do have a snack (about 150 calories for snacks) just make sure your eating every few hours and always have healthy snacks in your bag when you are away from the house even if you don’t think you will be gone that long, having a snack in my bag has saved me SO many times. Remember you want to eat just enough that your body can burn it all up by the time you get to your next meal/snack.

#2 Make sure you are eating exactly what you want to eat at every meal and snack NOT WHAT YOU THINK YOU SHOULD EAT. THIS IS VERY VERY IMPORTANT. Its extremely important to be satisfied with what you eat. If your not your going to be on the prowl for something else to eat after you have already eaten. I never think about food in between my meals because I always eat exactly what I want and I’m satisfied.

So you might be thinking if I eat everything I want I’m going to blow up like a balloon. The key here is to find foods that are healthy that your going to WANT to eat. This may take some trial and error to figure that out for yourself, trying out different recipe’s etc. All the meals above are healthy meals I have figured out that I LOVE, but your tastes and what satisfies your palet may be different then mine.

#3 Preparation Preparation Preparation. SO IMPORTANT!!! When I am hungry I want to EAT! Not spend 45 minutes in the kitchen slicing, dicing and cooking. For example I always have ready to go in my fridge (or some combination of): cooked sweet potatoes, a vat of cooked brown rice, cooked whole grain pasta, cooked shrimp and salmon (and canned salmon and chicken in my pantry just in case), big bag of pre cut/washed broccoli from Costco, spinach and romaine lettuce, made up tuna, cottage cheese, greek yogert etc… So there you go I always have a #1 a protein source #2 whole grains #3 veggies always ready to go, so there are NO EXCUSES.

I believe to do this anti-dieting approach and eat whatever you want you have to be willing to accept what your body looks like at its natural weight and frame size. Some people naturally have very thin frames, think Paris Hilton. While others have a larger frame like say Khloe Kardashian. I for exampe have always been a size 6/7, even in high school, that is just where my hip bones sit. Even when I lose weight and I'm leaner I am still the same size jeans. I will never be a size 2 or even a 4, genetically I'm just not that small and I'm perfectly fine with that.

My recommendations for shopping at the grocery store:

Remember even though most of the stuff I’m going to list here are whole, healthy foods its most important to eat what you want and what satisfies you even over what is most nutritious I think. WHY do I think this? Because in my experience I’m going to eat what I am craving either way. For example if I am craving ice cream I can eat it right when I am craving it and probably end up having a small amount although I don’t limit myself to that OR I can resist the craving for hours or days but eventually end up giving in anyway because over time the craving just gets stronger and stronger the more I resist and then when I finally do give in I’m going to end up binging on it because I feel so deprived. So I don’t play that game anymore, when I’m craving something I EAT IT! You don’t have to switch over to all this healthy stuff all at once, start small and take your time if you need to. Play around at the grocery store and in your kitchen and come up with meals YOU are going to love.

- Buy foods that are as close to its natural state as possible. Foods closest to its natural state are going to be fruits and vegetables, raw nuts, eggs, minimally processed meats, dairy products and whole grains. This should be the majority of what your daily food intake consists of.

- Check out ingredients, this is usually the 1st thing I check out even before the nutrition facts. If it has High fructose corn syrup or just corn syrup, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils (trans fats), any artificial sweetener like splenda, sucrolose or aspertame, white or bleached flour, nitrates and nitrites (lunch meat/hot dogs) or any artificial flavors or colors ie.. red #5 blue #40 I typically don’t buy it.

- In general always choose 100% whole grain carbs. Ie.. Brown rice, whole grain bread, pasta, flour, crackers, cereal etc.. Stay away from anything white, is has very little nutritional value and turns straight to sugar in your body which turns straight to fat on your waistline if its not burned off.

- Be careful about sodium. We need sodium in our diet but not more then 2300 mg per day that is about 1 tsp, which is not a lot at all. Don’t buy to much canned stuff its FULL of sodium, same with most anything prepackaged like tv dinners and meals at restaurants too. If you check out the nutrition facts on restaurant websites your hard pressed to find any meal that has under 1500 mg of sodium, and many are over 2000 or even 3000 for just one meal, scary.

- Buy organic where you can, I know its more expensive but those pesticides/herbicides can harm your health and its been proven they even inhibit weight loss. You can get away with buying non organic for produce that has a thicker skin like melons and bananas because not as much of the chemicals are going to get through to the fruit as easily. But produce with a thinner skin like apple’s and definitely spinach and lettuce I think is worth buying organic when you can. When it comes to meat and dairy products try to get steroid and hormone free. Don’t be a freak about buying organic but it’s important to be aware of.

- Don’t forget to buy some treats. I always like to have some ice cream in my freezer, potato chips in my pantry ect.. so I’ve got them on hand when I’m craving them. No one eats perfect all the time, life is all about balance. When you want a treat have it, I do. My favorite treats are Breyers ice cream put in a small cake cone, kettle potato chips from Costco regular and bbq, dark chocolate. Sometimes if I’m craving chocolate I’ll have half a kids brownie clif bar or half a Kashi go lean bar with a small cup of skim milk. Even though these are treats I still think it’s important to buy good ingredients. For example the Breyers ice cream is super basic it has like 5 ingredients milk, cream, sugar etc… some ice creams I check out have like 40 ingredients like hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup and other crap. Same with the kettle chips it has potatos, sunflower oil and salt. In general if the list is super long and you can’t pronounce lots of things don’t get it.

Some additional nutrition and fitness tips:

- In general don’t eat after dinner. This is really the only restriction I put on myself. In fact if I had only one piece of weight loss advice it would be this. In order to make this happen successfully its important to eat a healthy and satisfying dinner with good protein and complex carbs. If I don’t eat carbs at dinner I am STARVING come 9pm. If you do get hungry at night anyway down a BIG glass of water if your still hungry have a small snack, a cup of greek yogert with a few walnuts etc.. I find if I follow this one rule of not eating after dinner even if I haven’t eaten perfect I still stay pretty lean and I’m happy with my body

- 1st thing in the morning have a very warm glass of lemon water before you have eaten anything. It detoxifys the liver and cleans out your colon. I almost always will take a #2 about 15 minutes after doing this (sorry if thats tmi) and vitimin c produces a chemical in the body that aids in burning fat more efficiently. Just use half a lemon, squeeze it into a mug, add boiling water ¾ of the way up then fill the rest with cold water so you can drink it right away. Afterward rinse your mouth out well with water to get that lemon off your teeth. But don’t brush your teeth for an hour at least as the lemon loosens your tooth enamel and you don’t want to brush your enamel off. Oh and don't eat anything for 1/2 hour after to get the most benefit.

- Workout 3-5 days per week and do exercise you enjoy, it shouldn’t be torturous. If you hate the treadmill don’t get on one. It can be hiking, rollerblading, walking, biking, dancing, workout classes/dvds just get out there and sweat doing something you enjoy for 40 minutes or more. If you don't have that much time 20 minutes is certainly better then nothing.

- I do think resistance training is very important also. The more muscle you have the more tone you will look and the more calories your body will burn while at rest.

- SLEEP SLEEP SLEEP- Sleep is when our bodies heal and repair themselves so it’s a big part of good health to get 8 hours of undisturbed sleep every night. I know with babies and kids this can be hard just do the best you can.

- Chill out- Stress is bad we all know this, the negative effects of stress could fill a list a mile long. Our bodies function the best when we are relaxed and happy. If you are trying to lose weight, you will have more success if you keep this in mind. Its normal obviously to have stress in our busy lives just figure out ways to relive it. Exercise is a great one, baths, yoga, reading, gardening etc…

- Drink lots and lots of water. Water flushes toxins out of our bodies, hydrates us obviously and suppresses appetite. I have a 32 oz Nalgene water bottle that may as well be my second child, I take it everywhere with me. And it sits right by kitchen sink when I'm at home. If water is always right there and accessible to you, you'll drink more of it.

- I’m sure there are a lot more things I could write here but I’ll stop there

OK so sorry for the novel, I didn’t plan on this being so long. I just started writing and then it all came out like word vomit. Don’t be obsessive or stress about any of this. It’s about developing healthy habits, not being an extremist. Start small and take your time incorporating this advice into your life. Let me know if you have any questions ☺