Tips and tricks for a good diet

Ah, diet. You old bastard, you. The thing that everyone needs help with, and is least likely to actually take the steps to fix. Why? Easy; bad food tastes good.

Animal Style!!!!

Really. Fucking. Good.

I'll admit it; I give in every once in a while and crush a burger and fries from BK or Wendy's. Not McDonald's though, forget that noise. 

I manage to keep a pretty tight diet most of the time; every once in a while you DO need to enjoy yourself though. What are some strategies I (and most people) use to keep on track?

1) Go to the grocery store. Buy lots of food. If you have food in the house, you are more likely to eat it.

 

2) Prepare your food ahead of time. This doesn't mean cooking it all at once, but it could mean that. If you make a huge pot of chili on Sunday night, you can eat it for the rest of the week. What I really mean, is take the time to get everything ready to cook. Right now in my fridge I have 3 pounds of snapped green beans and 4 nights worth of steak tips cut up and being marinated in separate baggies. When you know that all you have to do is go home, pull out some tupperware and throw it in a pan, you will be much more likely to make that for dinner instead of stopping at the burrito joint.

3) Bring food with you wherever you go. Going to work? Bring lunch and 2 snacks. Going to the movies? Sneak carrot sticks in your purse instead of Goobers. Your friends house to watch the football game? Bring your own meal so you won't be tempted to grab wings and fries with them. 

That is basically what I'm eating tonight; except I'll eat 3 times as much and no rice. 

So, now you're in the habit of going to the grocery store...what exactly should you be eating? A very popular trick is to do as much of your shopping as possible around the periphery of the store. This way you will walk through the produce aisle, the meat aisle and the dairy case. Thats really about all you need. 

1) Meat

2) Veggies

3) Eggs, cheese, milk, yogurt, cottage cheese. 

(Yes, you can go buy deli meat and bread to make sandwhiches. Just make sure you get the better brands of deli meats.)

Basically, eat REAL foods. As legendary coach Dan John says "eat like a grown up". If your meals all consist of a protein source, a pile of veggies, and some carbs now and then, you'll be just fine. If your meals come out of frozen boxes with pictures that tell you what it is supposed to look like, you're headed down the wrong path. 

Another tip...stay away from foods that have had calories extracted from them. I recently saw a commercial for Trop50; Tropicana's new orange juice that only has 50 calories per serving. What the hell? I didn't realize orange juice was making people fat all these years, I assumed it was the chicken alfredo and egg McMuffins! 

A little test I like to run with clients is to ask yourself "If I only ate this for a month, would I gain or lose weight?" Nobody gets fat drinking OJ. Nobody gets fat eating a steak and broccoli. Everyone gets fat eating chicken parmesan and steak and cheese subs. 

Now, go have a nutritious snack and then go lift some heavy shit!