Using a simple questionnaire attached to our members’ programs, we ask our clients a handful of questions every day before they train—how many hours of sleep they had the previous night, if they have any soreness or fatigue, if they have any pain, and how they feel their nutrition has gone over the previous 24-hours—allowing our clients to assess if they have any barriers to their daily training goals.

 

 

With all the of the confusing and often conflicting information on nutrition out there, we used to get a lot of shoulder shrugs and I’m not sure how to answer that type responses.  As a result we created a banner that lists what we consider to be a general “green light” on nutrition.  If you’re structuring your eating behaviors along these lines, there’s a great chance that you will see your physical goals come to fruition.

 

The other day I was having a conversation with one of our clients that I’ve been working with to develop some better nutrition habits after having gone through a recent lifestyle change.  We’ve been working together for about two months, and she has been kicking some major ass in changing the way she has been eating.  However, this past weekend was Easter and she didn’t eat as well as she has been, and she felt those weekend meals on her Monday morning workout.  She was a little slower getting warmed up and had some inflammation that showed up in the form of aching knees.  As a result, we modified her program to put her in the best positions to be successful on that day.

 

 

What’s fantastic is the fact that this client was able to recognize what behaviors she participated in that didn’t make her feel so great on Monday morning.  This awareness has built change into her life without her having to aggressively put restrictions on herself.  At no point have we set rules on our food, but rather increased our awareness and have focused on consistently adding more nutritious foods into her life.  As we add more nutritious foods we experience what it’s like to feel great, and start becoming aware of what foods don’t work for us anymore.

 

These simple changes don’t just apply to someone going through a lifestyle change.  I myself have also been working on my habits around food.  Yes, even coaches sometimes have trouble with food.  I’ve been adding more nutritious foods to my diet for about three months now.  I have started feeling amazing and haven’t been eating as many foods that don’t serve my goals.

 

Well…. Saturday evening my husband and I ordered a pizza from Dominoes (gasp!) and beyond the monetary expense, I paid the price for that pizza on Sunday morning when I woke up with just about every joint in my body aching.  I was chugging down water, curcumin, and Aleve to get some relief—sitting in a chair hurt, walking hurt, and even having a conversation with my husband was rather uncomfortable.  When my first beverage is not coffee in the morning, we know we have a problem.

 

 

But this suffering allowed me to remember that for years I have been unable to eat pizza from Dominoes without these problems.  Practicing better habits around food allowed me to discover something that’s not working for me.  Painful joints from eating Dominoes will not facilitate me to crush the goals that I have set for myself. This doesn’t mean that I will never have pizza again, it means that I am now cognizant around what foods help me succeed and what foods do not. I had a red light on my nutrition on Sunday because of my prior day’s behaviors and how it made my body feel.

 

So, how do you get a green light when it comes to nutrition?

 

 

Eat slowly and stop at 80% full

• Sit down with your meal and enjoy it.  If you’re going to eat something, have that food be enjoyable.  Try to take 20-25 minutes to eat.  Stop when you are satisfied.

 

Eat protein dense foods at each meal

• Each time you eat, get some protein into your diet.  This helps with satiety, building and repairing every tissue in our body, helps synthesize important hormones, helps our immune system, and it boosts our metabolism.  Ladies shoot for the size of your palm and gentlemen shoot for two palm size portions of protein.

 

Eat vegetables with each meal

• Much like your parents told you when you were younger: eat your veggies.  Colorful vegetables add value to your body, put simply.  They add vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, water, and fiber to your diet.  Bonus, to lose fat, eat your veggies.  Ladies, a serving size of veggies is your fist and gentlemen your serving is the size of two fists.  Of course, go nuts on veggies.  Have as much as you like.

 

For fat loss, eat most carbs after exercise

• Carbs are great for you.  They help us perform and look our best.  However, we want to choose smarter carbs.  Smarter carbs are things like WHOLE grains (quinoa, buckwheat, brown or wild rice, or sprouted grains), potatoes, beans or legumes, and fruit.  If you want to lose fat, prioritize carbs for after exercise that way the body uses them more effectively.  If your goal is to gain mass or you are concerned about performance, eat smart carbs at each meal.  Ladies a serving size is one cupped handful and gentlemen a serving size is two cupped handfuls.

 

Eat healthy fats daily

• Healthy fats are the bomb.  They help us recover, nourish fatty tissues like our brain, help the body absorb crucial vitamins, and they keep muscle building and sexy time hormones revving.  We need healthy fats in our diets like olive oil, butter, coconut oil, nut butters, seeds, and nuts.  Ladies a serving size of healthy fats is the size of your thumb—aim to get at least four servings a day.  Gentlemen a serving of healthy fats for you is two thumbs.

 

Green light your nutrition!

One of the things we find that limits our clients (and at times ourselves) is how our daily nutrition behaviors affect our performance and aesthetic goals.  If we fuel our body with high-quality foods, our goals are quicker to grasp.  If this isn’t how your nutrition is looking right now, I would recommend working on each of these skills one at a time, working your way down the list as you master each one.  A consistent 75% success rate across the week is better than one day at 100% and six days at 35%.  In just a couple of months time, you will be feeling the difference in your life and your workouts.