Nutrition and YOU

If you are looking a long term health and fitness result, you need to make sure that you are having nutritional success. There are no two-ways about it, you cannot live your best life unless you have a positive and manageable relationship with your food.

Unfortunately, most people do not. They tilt too far in either direction, going on ‘health kicks’ by following ‘diets’ and follow that up with periods of unhealthiness that causes them to try a ‘diet’ again, and so the cycle continues. Instead of this approach, which seems like insanity, repeating the same failing cycle again and again, shouldn’t we instead adopt an approach that allows us to have a healthy balance across all areas of food and life?

Find the correct nutritional balance and the result and success that you are looking for will become much more attainable. 70% of any health goal that you are looking to achieve will come down to the nutritional side of things.

What you eat is crucial to your success. So how can we get the nutrition balance correct and get the result and success that we have been craving for so long?

Read below for our top tips on how to make nutrition better for you.

First things first…

It does not matter whether or not you want to:

• Lose weight.
• Put on weight.
• Run a ½ marathon
• Bulk up
• Tone up
• Get more energy

What you put into your mouth is going to have a huge impact on your results.

There are also some questions that need answering for a personalised approach to nutrition:

• How much is too much?
• How many times do I need to eat every day?
• What is the impact of carbohydrates on my body?
• What proteins should I be eating?
• How long should I be waiting between each meal?

There are hundreds of questions that you could ask, and often there is just too much information out there to try and wrap your head around.

Try not to get stressed out too much about this side of things. Once you get the fundamentals correct with a personal approach to nutrition, the answers come a bit easier.

So what do we need to do to ensure that we are eating the right food for our goals?

Tip #1 – Have a really solid understanding of what it is that you want to achieve.

Yes, we all want to be eating healthy. That goes without saying. There are very few people who deliberately go out of their way to eat unhealthy all of the time.

We all know what is bad for us and it does not take a rocket scientist to understand that fast food, take-away and soft drink is not going to help you lose weight or live your best life.

What we need to know is what we should be consuming for our specific goal.

Trying lose weight? You are going to be eating a very different food plan compared to someone who wants to run a marathon.

Seek advice, do some research, ask someone who has done it before.

Make sure you know what you want and need to do. If you do not have clarity around your goal, it is hard to eat a plan that will give you a good chance of success.

Tip #2 – Understand the impact of food on your body.

Do you know what a carbohydrate is?

Do you know the impact that it has on your body?

Are you aware that it might have a different impact on your body compared to someone trying to achieve a similar result?

Do you know the impact of proteins and fats?

All of these questions are hugely important when it comes to making sure that you have a really well rounded idea of what you should be eating.

Educate yourself, get advice and make sure that you are confident in your understanding of the impacts of certain types of food on your body.

Giving yourself the best chance at a result and nutritional success means that you MUST have an idea as to how carbs, proteins and fats impact the body.

Tip #3 – Do you know the times around which you should eat different food types?

Should you have more carbohydrates in the morning compared to the evening?

Should you increase protein as the day progresses?

How long should I wait before/after exercise before eating?

Why?

It goes a long way towards not only achieving your goal, but also having a really great understanding of the way your body functions if you can improve your knowledge on the timing of your nutritional intake.

If you are finding it difficult to know when you should and should not eat, definitely sit down with someone that can help you.

It will go a long way towards your success.

Tip #4 – Finding a system that works

Make sure that you are approaching your nutrition in a way that works best for you. This will ensure that you remain on track with your health and fitness goals long term.

It is a great idea to read and educate yourself as much as possible, but you also need to remember that just because a certain system works well for one person, it does not mean it will work well for you.

For example, the system that works best for me revolves around planning and cooking. Every Sunday afternoon I dedicate 2 hours to food prep for the week. This allows me to start every week with each of my meals planned and cooked out.

It gives me a lot of confidence to know that I have already made all of the correct nutritional choices for my next 5 days and allows me to relax and focus on the rest of the important tasks for the week ahead.

What this entails is:

• Mapping out what my week is going to look like.
  • Are there meetings?
  • Dinners?
  • Or any social events before Saturday I need to take into account?
• What do I feel like eating?
  • Was there a recipe that worked well for me last week?
  • Am I repeating last week or trying something new?
• Cook cook cook
  • Cook in bulk – it saves time and allows for saving some money.
• I pre-prepare
  • My breakfasts
  • Morning teas
  • Lunches
  • Afternoon teas for the next 5 days and then put them in containers in the fridge
• All I need to do is take out the required containers in the morning and I am ready to go.
• During my food shop I have also bought all my dinners, it is just a matter of making them when I get home

Will this work for everyone?

Definitely not.

It has worked for me, as I classify myself as a ‘lazy eater’. This means if I am busy at work I often will go without food, or go to the shops and get something easy.

Not only does this way save me some money, but it also ensures that I am always making the right nutritional choice and staying on track for my goals.

Take the time to find a way that works best for you, and make sure you stick to it.

You will be thanking yourself in the long run and seeing a high level of nutritional success and a result that you are after!

Tip #5 – Try new things

Making your food is interesting and exciting is a great way to stay on top of your goals.

Researching and trying new recipes is a great way to educate yourself. It also helps your body to get lots of different types of vitamins and minerals.

It is much more motivating to look forward to a meal than believe that you have to eat the same thing forever.

Whilst that can work for some people, a lot of people require variety.

For those who say they are not very good cooks?

What a fantastic way to learn a new skill!

Tip #6 – Partner? Housemate? Friends or Family? Get them involved!

A key to success in any area of life it to have accountability. If you let the people around you know what you are doing, then not only will you have people keep you accountable, but you also open yourself to a whole new world of ideas and tips.

It has been said that in a lifetime, a person will attempt to get take control of their health upwards of 15 times.

This means that the people around you have tried recipes, attempted new ideas and found things that may or may not have worked for them in the past.

Talk to them, find out what they have done and see if they have any ideas for you. It is amazing what you will learn!

These are just a few ways that we can start to take control of our nutritional intake, remember it is all about enjoying the process. Have fun, do some research and make sure you find a system that works!

Remember, nutritional success = result!