You’ve probably heard before that results start in the kitchen and you will never be able to out exercise bad nutrition. This is true. It is simply too easy to consume calories faster than you can burn them. In order to lose body fat you need to make some changes to your daily nutrition, by incorporating the “7 Habits of Clean Eating”.
Nutrition is easy, everyone knows what he or she should and shouldn’t eat. Applying it is the hard part.
By incorporating the following ” 7 Habits of Clean Eating” you’ll be on your way to making better nutritional choices and changing your body.
Clean Eating Habit #1 – Reduce Processed Foods
“If it was made to sit on the shelf for years, if will sit on your butt, belly and hips just as long.” Your goal should be to eat as much real, whole, unprocessed food as possible. This means if it’s in a box or a wrapper it’s processed and not the best choice.
Clean Eating Habit #2 – You Can’t Change What You Don’t Track – Keep A Journal!
At PNF we’ve seen repeatedly that those who achieve the best results keep a daily food log. Some prefer paper and pencil; others prefer an app, such as “My Fitness Pal.” What you use doesn’t matter as long as you track it. Simple but effective!!
Clean Eating Habit #3 – Eat More Protein
Eating more protein will result in greater fat loss and muscle gain than a low protein diet. Protein, which is found in red meat, pork, chicken, fish, eggs, and dairy, contains essential amino acids that act as the building blocks of muscles. These are needed to rev up your metabolism and help you shed fat. This happens through the process of building muscle tissue, which requires your body to burn more calories. Also, when you have more muscle on your body, it gives you a toned and sculpted looked. Aim to eat about 1 gram for each pound of goal bodyweight.
If you are following a vegetarian diet, your total daily protein will be slightly lower and you should try to eat a variety of nuts, seeds, and beans each day, along with a plant based protein shake after your workouts.
Clean Eating Habit #4 – Eat More Veggies
Not only do vegetables contain numerous vitamins and minerals, as well as high amounts of fiber. They are also very low in calories. Eat as many veggies as you can each day. We also recommend 1-2 servings of fruit each day. This makes a great dessert without all the added sugar.
Clean Eating Habit #5 – Stop Drinking Calories
The number one way to gain weight is to drink calories. This means no soda, juice (even 100% juice drinks), sports drinks, and coffee drinks. The best options are water, green tea, coffee (no more than 5 cups per day), and other unsweetened teas. If you must have something in your coffee choosing either whole milk or full fat creamer is a healthier choice than skim or reduced calorie creamers. – See Habit #1.
But what about “diet” versions! The artificial sweeteners used in diet drinks trigger some of the same signals in your body as regular sugar and cause you to gain fat. The same can be said for artificial sweeteners such as Stevia, Sweet & Low, and Truvia.
And how about that nightly glass of wine? Wine, beer, liquor are a part of many people’s social lives and we don’t expect you to give them up all together. After all, we’d be hypocrites if we did, being that we are craft beer snobs at PNF. That being said we recommend keeping your total weekly drink to six or less. Now that doesn’t mean you should go out and buy bigger glasses, although we like how you think.
Clean Eating Habit #6 –Stop Eating Sugar
Pass on desserts, candy, cakes and ice cream. These foods all contain high amounts of sugar and very little nutritional value and are a great way to gain body fat. With that being said, we don’t expect you to never eat anything bad again. Are you going to eat pizza and then follow it with ice cream? Sure you are, you’re human. You just are not going to do this regularly. Instead you will save these things for your splurges, or little indulgences to enjoy the good things in life. All you have to do is keep the splurges to only 20% of your diet. That means that 80% of everything you eat and drink is a healthy choice that will improve your body. The other 20% is where you eat and drink the stuff you know you shouldn’t, but tastes amazing.
Clean Eating Habit #7 – Supplement for success
At PNF we are not big on supplements, but there are two that we find extremely helpful.
The first is a Post-Workout Recovery Shake. This is a shake that contains roughly 20 grams of protein (preferably whey protein because it is absorbed by the body better) and fruit puree. This natural sugar is beneficial to the body because it will replenish muscle glycogen stores that have been depleted during the workout. Also, post-workout is the one time that we always have control of our nutrition and the ability to get in good quality nutrition, during the rest on the day this is not always the case.
The second is fish oil. Fish Oil has numerous benefits including fighting inflammation and helping improving our body’s fat profiles. Our diets tend to be low in Omega-3 fatty acids, DHA and EPA specifically. So we like to supplement with these each day. Our recommended brand is Nordic Naturals as it is one of the highest quality fish oils available on the market.
There you have it 7 Habits of Clean Eating to help you feel better and build a better body.
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