BodyTrans Nutrition Guide
Have a Plan
First of all, this is a nutrition plan, not a diet. It is the way we should all be eating. It is the way our bodies "prefer" that we eat. It is a nutrition plan on which our bodies thrive. What I am trying to tell you is that the three big meals a day plan (or two for those who skip breakfast) is just plain wrong. It's one of the reasons many Americans are so horribly obese!
Six Meals Per Day
That's right, six meals per day is far more optimal in terms of energy and favorable body composition than three. Why? Well let's put this in layman's terms by explaining what your body "thinks". Let's say I eat a great big lunch, or about the "normal" serving at a dine-in restaurant "in the neighborhood". That lunch can be about 1500 calories or more. That amount of energy (calories) is just way too much for my body to use in the next few hours. So my body, being the frugal thing that it is, decides to store away a lot of those unused calories. What are they stored as? Fat, that's right, ugly body fat. Even if that 1500 calories was from food that is "good for me".
Now that was the way I would eat if I were only eating two or three meals per day and that is exactly what a lot of us do every day. On six meals a day however, it goes a little like this...
I eat a lunch with a few hundred calories in it instead of a few thousand. Why? Because I had breakfast (Meal 1) just after I got up and showered this morning. Two or three hours after that, I had a snack (Meal 2). Those meals also had just a few hundred calories in them. So I'm not so "starved" that I'm going to stuff my face at lunch (Meal 3)! Plus I know I'm going to be eating again in another two or three hours (Meal 4). Later in the evening, after another few hours, I'll have dinner (Meal 5). Then in the evening, I'll have my last snack of the day (Meal 6).
So what does my body "think" about all of these meals? Well, you get it going with a good breakfast because it hasn't been fed in 10 hours or so (since last night's snack), so that's good. It was only a few hundred calories though, so your body doesn't store any of it away as body fat. It can use up a few hundred calories in a few hours (depending on your level of activity). Then when it's ready for more energy, you give it meal 2 at mid-morning. It uses up those few hundred calories. Again, no body fat is accumulated from unused calories. Then it gets lunch... and so on and so forth for each successive meal. That's the way it is supposed to work!
It's great! You're not hungry because you're eating all day long. Your body is "happy" because it has the energy that it needs to function properly. Instead of accumulating body fat, you're burning it... Wait, how did that last one get in there? That's right, because you are eating every few hours, your body does work to break down and use that food, your metabolism increases! (To learn more about metabolism, get one of the great books from the section "Credit Where Credit Is Due".)
Speaking of metabolism, what was happening to our metabolism when we were eating just two or three meals a day instead of six. Well, even if we didn't have a big lunch... Let's say we just had a salad at noon and I'm not going to eat dinner until around 7pm. What happens about 5pm or so? My body "thinks" it might be starving. It's not sure when it will get it's next meal. So it slows your metabolism so that it can hold some of those fat stores. It's a survival thing. Unfortunately it's the exact opposite effect you were hoping for. I'm not saying you don't want to survive! I'm saying that you don't want to hold onto that body fat!
What To Eat
Ok, so we're good with six meals a day but what do we eat in our six meals. Well, we want to make sure that we get a good balance between protein, carbohydrates, and fat. A good balance can be somewhere in the ratio of 40/30/30 or 40% carbohydrates, 30% protein, and 30% fat. Now, I mean "good" fat, carbs, and protein. What are good sources? Good sources of protein are egg whites, tuna, chicken breast, turkey breast, non-fat cottage cheese, very lean steak, whey protein supplements. Good sources of carbohydrates are oatmeal, sweet potatoes, yams, strawberries, apples, green beans, asparagus, peas. Good sources of fats are nuts, natural peanut butter, olive oil, flax seed oil.
Some bad food choices include the obvious - cakes, pies, and candy but also some less obvious foods. White bread isn't a very good source of "good" carbohydrates. Wheat bread is a better choice. White rice isn't a very good carb. Brown rice is better. A baked potato is not a very good carb. A sweet potato is better.
To learn more about good foods and foods you might want to stay away from, check out the resources below.
Credit Where Credit Is Due
I didn't just pull this stuff out of the
air. The information in this guide is based on science and real-world
application. A few resources you just might want to check out include:
-
BodyForLife.Com Nutrition Guidelines
- Bill Phillips
Body for Life
- Dr. John Berardi's
Precision Nutrition
- Tom Venuto's
Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle
-
Shawn Phillips
Strength for Life: The Fitness Plan for the Rest of Your Life
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