Whats On Your Plate Nation?

I was sitting down for dinner with a few friends the other night and started to notice something. My friends would mindless eat while talking about their day, and had no regard to what was going into their mouth. Actually, most of them had eaten about four pieces of bread that was put down and couldn’t even remember doing it. I wanted to write this post in response to what I saw and am starting to notice about a lot of people. Do not mindlessly eat and put food into your mouth without purpose!

I really believe if people would stop eating for no reason and start paying attention to the food going into their mouth they would eat better. It is like putting gas into your car; you wouldn’t just put whatever in your gas tank and hope it would make your car run. You specifically put the fuel your car takes in and the right amount. You fill it up when it’s low, and stop when it’s full. We need to apply this concept to the food we consume. Every single bite should be with purpose, and that purpose being to get the nutrients our body needs to function at an optimal level. Our plate should have…

          ·            The protein we need to rebuild muscle, support muscle growth/function, amino acid support and for our goals/health

          ·            Clean carbohydrates for energy and micro nutrients like vegetables and fruits.

          ·            Healthy fats to support hormones, energy, nutrient transportation and cell function

If we could stick to this concept we all would be better off. The key is to switch your focus from eating for pleasure to eating with purpose. Animals and other live organisms eat to stay healthy and alive. If you think about it, we are one of the only living organisms that eat for pleasure, celebration, because were bored, or any other reason to eat.

Start by figuring out how many protein/fat/carbs your body needs and that meet your goals. Next use a meal plan, like the one on scotthermanfitness.com to plan out your meals for the day and to make sure you are getting what your body needs. Now for the harder part; every time you take a bite of food make the connection from each bite to your brain that this is what your body needs. You can even take it further by thinking, “my body needs this protein to help reach its optimal amount of 200g protein per day”. I know this seems redundant and different, but after awhile you will have your brain operating in survival mood when you eat and no longer in pleasure mode.

Alright nation now it is time to start eating with purpose and to build the best body possibly. Start thinking about every single bite you take, and make sure that bite fills a need in your body and meets your goals. Next time you are out with friends or family, ask them how much they ate and point out to them the mindless eating habits you notice!

Hey,

I've started doing this, this morning. Still "struggling" to get the rigtht types of foods and enough protein, carbs and fats in a day. I've put it up in my notebook but it just seems like I'm so far from getting to my goal mealplan.

Total Calories: 1729  Carb=236g Prot=89g Fat=55g - This' the totals I have at the moment, but it's without any supplements. So I'm not sure if it's enough though :s

Hey! The important thing is that you have started to keep track of what your putting in your body and your trying to get the right amounts you need. Changing your diet cannot happen over night. My best advice is to work at getting one macro just right one at a time. I would start with your protein since you are trying to gain muscle. Once you are getting enough protein in your diet 90% of the time, then you can work on fat or carbs. Try to consume at least your body weight in protein then add 20 or so grams of protein per week until you are consuming 1.5 times your body weight each day. You might even have to go higher but just start with what I gave you. So with your body weight your protein should end up at  234g per day.

Week 1- 156 g protein

Week 2- 176 g protein

Week 3- 200g protein

Week 4- 234g Protein

Follow this four week plan to get your protein right. Check back here once you have taken in 234g of protein for two weeks straight. I will then help you with your carbs and fat. Also, if you are trying to take supplements go with amino x, cellmass, and syntha6 by BSN. These three would help the most with your current goals.