Thursday 25 October 2012

5 meal ideas #3

Be under no misconception, reaching your fat loss or muscle gain goal will take time. Getting to your fitness destination is a marathon, not a sprint. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will your dream body. With this said one of the main areas so many people fall down on is not being consistent with the diet. It could be lack of preparation time or lack of healthy meal ideas. Besides eating right doesn’t have to be about bland chicken breasts, boring brown rice and dry steamed vegetables at every meal. My main aim of this post is to give you some inspiration for creative healthy meal ideas that taste good, can be made in under 15 minutes and can be suited to any fitness goal.
The rules of good nutrition
Whatever meal you choose to eat, if you stick to these simple rules you can’t go wrong!
·         Eat 5-6 small meals a day
·         Stay away from sugars and processed foods
·         Focus on consuming lean proteins with every meal
·         Eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables
·         Drink 3+ litres of filtered/bottled water a day
·         Save starchy carbs for breakfast or after a workout.
 
Wholemeal steak pitta pockets. with low fat cheese, spinach and avacado


Mexican brown rice salad, with borlotti beans, avacado, red onion, lime juice and peppers(suitable for vegeterians)



Wholemeal wraps with turkey mince, jalapeno peppers, spinach and avacado oil



Salmon filet with spinach, brown rice and borlotti beans



Have you worked hard this week? yes? Well go on then, treat yourself to slice of cake. You deserve it!

 

Sunday 14 October 2012

5 foods that WILL change your body and health

Here are some things you may or may not already include in your diet. Some you may already know about, others you might not. Regardless, each of them has a numerous amount of benefits that can help you towards your goal.

·         Eggs – the combination of protein and other nutrients in eggs will satiate your hunger, keeping you fuller for longer. Making them a great choice for breakfast.  The yolks also contain good amount of fat and vitamin D. Both of which can help increase your testosterone levels.
·         Almonds – like most nuts, almonds are very calorie dense. Meaning they’re a great addition to your diet if you’re looking to increase your daily calorific intake and gain some weight. They contain plenty of ‘healthy’ monounsaturated fats. What’s more they also contain plenty of the important anti oxidant, vitamin E. This has cancer fighting qualities.
·          Salmon – as well as being high in protein it’s probably most known for its high levels of omega 3’s fats. I could fill the rest of this blog post with their benefits, but quite simply they are important for joint health, muscle recovery, cardiovascular health and normal growth and development. Plus salmon tastes great with some piri piri seasoning on it!
·         Cinnamon – first off, cinnamon can make most bland meals taste so much better, but it also has a lot of benefits that can help you achieve your goals. Just smelling it can help boost cognitive function and memory. Did you know taking cinnamon with your meals can help stabilize your blood sugar levels making it great for weight loss?
·         Cherry juice – fruit juices often get a bad wrap in the fitness and bodybuilding world. Simply because they’re loaded with sugars. But, sometimes they can be of some use provided they’re drank at the right times (mornings and after workouts are best to help replenish glycogen and spike insulin). Take cherry juice for example, its loaded with chemicals called anthocyanin’s which have been shown to sooth inflammation and soreness (aka DOMS) helping you recover from your workouts faster.