It is hard to say what the most important part of any person’s nutrition is, but food choice and certainly volume rank high.
If you can improve the quality of food you eat and the amount of food you eat (appropriate for your body size and goals) you will see changes.
The way you feel, what your energy is like, how strong your workout is, how your clothes fit, all that will change if your food quality improves and volume is appropriate.
Choices
While there are grey areas just about everywhere in life, with food quality there are clear bad, low quality options and good, high quality options
.
Our food choices may suffer for a variety of reasons. Some reasons include, habit, convenience, confusion by marketing lingo and trickery, consistently conflicting media reports.
The “WHY” doesn’t matter, the awareness and plan to improve does.
Improvement happens over time, you have to experiment and find things you like and allow time for your tastes to adjust.
Changing everything at once is typically a recipe for failure
; it is too much at once and often overwhelming.
We suggest planning a few meals at a time that come from these lists below. Planning a few more each week as you grow the habit.
Over time, find more things that are great and taste great.
Protein (Fresh, Organic, Wild, Lean, Carbohydrates
No Added Ingredients/ Chemicals)
– Seafood –
Blueberries
– Poultry –
Strawberries
– Beef – Raspberries
– Pork – Apples
– Wild Game – Bananas
– Protein Powder – Wild Rice
– Cottage Cheese – Quinoa
– Greek Yogurt – Bean Pastas
– Tofu – Tubers (sweet potatoes, yams)
– Lentils/ Beans –
Sprouted Grain Breads (frozen isle- Ezekiel Bread)
Fats
Spices and Sauces
– Fish Oils –
Tomato Sauce (check out label to avoid sugar)
– Olive Oil –
Salsa
– Coconut Oil –
Hot Sauce
– Nuts –
Pesto
– Natural Peanut Butter –
Broths
– Olives –
Greek Yogurt (GREAT replacement for sour cream)
– Avocados –
Veggie Seasoning
– Chia Seeds –
Pepper
Veggies (Fresh, Organic, Frozen is ok)
–
Pink Himalayan Sea Salt
– Spring Mix –
Cumin
– Spinach –
Red Pepper
– Kale –
Oregano
– Chard –
Basil
– Peppers –
Cilantro
– Onions –
Garlic
– Broccoli
– Asparagus
– Cauliflower
– Squash
– Tomatoes
– Carrots
Obviously you are going to eat things not on this list. That is called living life. Who doesn’t love pizza, a decadent dinner for a special occasion, or grabbing a drink with a friend?
Nutrition is not all or nothing
, make smart planned out choices dominate and just live life the rest of the time. Be educated, know what a good choice is, and make them a majority of the time.
Don’t strive for perfection,
you feel like a failure and discouraged if you don’t achieve it.
Decide what is realistic for your life
,
when you stick to that plan you feel accomplished and encouraged!
Volume
There are many systems to regulate the volume of food you eat. We endorse one. Measuring, weighing, and counting calories is certainly not it.
You can guess how long most of us last with that approach. It’s just not what most of us need. If we were preparing for the Olympics or a body building contest perhaps it would be.
In our world, we want to keep it simple.
As you probably know by now, our approach is based on your hand size. The approach was developed by the smart people at Precision Nutrition after years of research and work with real people. More or less your hand size is based on your body size.
Here are the infographics again. Now we know you all don’t sit down for three perfect meals every day, that little thing called life gets in the way some times. If the total volume of your food intake equals what three meals should, plus a few smart snacks, that’s pretty good.
Do your best at sticking with the recommended volumes for a while and see how you feel. You can always adjust based on how you feel and your level of activity.
Keep these infographics handy as you plan your meals.
