Nutrition Time - The Program

This weekend I finally got the nutrition program from Dustin, my new eating guru. I was kind of terrified in the waiting and the longer I waited, the more I was scared. Was I going to be eating a bunch of crap I hated? Like vegetables? Was it going to be something I could do realistically? Was I going to really just struggle to see how this would ever be good?

And of course, the answer is a mix of yes and no.

First - the science.

The plan combines the "4 food laws" into something that I think I can actually do. I mean I knew I wasn't going to be eating pizza and hamburgers, but it's very fair. The four laws are:

1. Eat every 3 hrs, hungry or not. The rationale for this is that eating every 3 hours keeps my blood sugar stable, defeating cravings and helping me to stay on an even keel all day. This means smaller meals since you eat often too.
2. Pro/Fat/Cho - Every time you eat a carb, make sure it's with a protein or fat. This is something I've heard many many times before, but struggle with. Carbs are just plain yummy by themselves :) But this links to keeping stable.
3. Make sure foods contain 100% whole wheat only, no unbleached white flour. This is another DUH rule.
4. When choosing carbs, avoid anything where sugar is greater than 20% of the total carbs. Again, this helps with blood sugar stability and cravings.

The other point of the program is that when you eat right - clean wholesome foods, you can eat more. If you want to hear more about this, pick up Master your Metabolism by Jillian Michaels. She spends a lot of her book saying the same thing. To fuel yourself for exercise so you burn the right stuff off (fat) and build the right stuff up (muscle) you have to really eat a lot of cals. A lot more than you probably think you do anyway. And you can and still lose weight and lean out.

So if you get nothing else from this post - know this. Shop the outside of the store for clean wholesome foods. Your dinner shouldn't come from a box, a bar, or anything else where the label requires a degree to understand. Also follow the food rules. Those guide you to healthy choices and a healthy way of eating. There's more - he gave me a lot of printouts to read. If you want more in depth details for yourself, look at the JM book and also Michael Pollan. (All of which I am reading now and they all are fantastic resources!)

Okay so then part 2...how does this look in real life?

Well like I said...it's no picnic. It's simple stuff. I've done plans before where I made the meals. This time I gave up all control and said tell me what to eat. See, I get really flustered with putting together meals with a limited list. It's confusing. This program is the opposite which is actually easier and more freeing, if you can wrap your mind around my ADD brain's backwards thinking. I think because the nutritionist is a better fit for me in general, that helped. He listened to my fears, likes, dislikes, and habits, so the plan really is not too far from how I like to eat (when it's healthy and clean anyway).

I eat 6 times a day, 4 meals are food based and 2 are protein powder. I'm not the biggest fan of protein powder (it's a fake food, right?). But the fact of the matter is that I'm also not a fan of eating enough eggs, chicken, and fish to get the protein totals I need daily. So this makes me okay with that.

Also, I'm using a sports nutritionist (b/c really, if you are on an aggressive exercise program, it's just the way to go) so he's concerned about my pre/post workout fuel, not just cals in and out. This is very important for anyone really working out. When I have a hardcore day, I burn over 4000 calories. I can't just eat low calories and not pay attention to the macronutrients, because my body is working hard. I have noticed since picking things up, I have days where I am starving and days where I am not so hungry and they are directly linked to the exercise program. You have to fuel like an athlete when training (and burning calories like a machine) in order to get the right results. And you have to measure correctly what the changes are. When you measure the right stuff, you can see where your diet is wrong by looking at changes in weight/body fat. For example, a perfect plan will have you losing fat and gaining muscle. A poor plan, say one where you aren't eating enough protein, you will lose fat and muscle. All you will see on a scale is it dropping. What you won't know is that you are losing good AND bad stuff...not just the fat. It's really important to measure your changes right so you know how to adjust.

More science, oops :) But seriously - weight loss isn't complicated...but if you get into the science it sure makes it easier to figure out where to go.

Anyway, let's look at a sample meal for me for lunch/dinner:
Lean protein (chicken, turkey, fish) 4-7 oz depending on the meal
Vegetables 0.5 to 1 cup depending on the meal/preperation
Carb (rice or potatoes) 1 cup

Not too bad, right? I mean it's a pretty basic clean meal. I'll be following this plan as written every day for 2 weeks. Then I go back and have my weight/body fat taken. Based on the changes, my plan will be adjusted and I'll have a new plan created for me. This will be my life for the next 12 weeks. But the plan has worked well for some others, because it's personalized, and I'm looking forward to maybe posting some before/after pics in 3 months :)