Fitness and nutrition is my business. Helping you becoming the best you possible is a call on my life. I realize that knowing what to eat and how to make all this work can be downright confusing at times. Today, I am going to give you some advice and then share with you what I do and what works for me. You may also want to refer back to the blog post I did called. K.I.S.S. your nutrition. My goal is to help you stop obsessing about all this and help you live your life freely.
First, I know it’s easy to be overwhelmed because there is SO much information out there. There are so many programs, “expert recommendations”, fad diets, and hocus pocus ridiculous stuff out there that even I sometimes wonder how someone that is just starting out in leading a healthy lifestyle can make sense of it all. This is why I’m writing to you today so please listen in. I am about to give you the best nutrition advice on the planet, hands down! This will save you time, stress, and money. Write this down in your journal and refer to it often! Here it is:
Nutrition is not black and white. Therefore, what works flawlessly for one person may not necessarily work for you. You must buy into the fact and accept that every individual body is unique in what it needs based on genetics, hormones, age, activity level, etc. Everyone responds to nutrition in a different way, including you. With that said, there is a basic common sense approach to nutrition that should serve as your foundation for a healthy life.
You must be willing to take that foundation and then tweak it based on your individual needs. Learn what works for your body. Listen to your body and educate yourself. Stop getting frustrated because you are following all the “rules” of a “diet” and not seeing results fast enough when you haven’t even taken into consideration how unique your body is or what it needs. Without undergoing extensive testing of your DNA , which can cost quite a bit of money, you have to be willing to test things out for 30-60 days to see how you feel. What’s considered extreme for one person may not be so extreme for you. The two biggest words I can leave with you are LISTEN and CONSISTENCY.
Next, I am going to break down to you some common sense things and share with you what I implement in my life and training. Please note: This is what I do and have had success with. I want you to learn what a solid foundation is and then start listening to your body and try some things out. Learn the basics and then build on them.
The BASICS
1. Eat whole unprocessed foods. Shop the perimeter at the grocery store and stay away from anything in box, wrapped up, or that doesn’t expire in 7-10 days. Invest in what keeps you healthy. Not what’s cheap but will kill you. You’re worth it right? The answer is yes.
2. Stop eating fast food and eating out more than once a week.
3. Drink water not soda.
4. Eat breakfast within an hour of rising.
5. Eat protein, an assortment of veggies, healthy fats, and limited grains if at all.
6. Food is fuel. You will need to eat every 3 hours to fuel your body. Listen to it. You may need every 2 hours or every 4-5 hours. Either way you need 3 solid healthy meals a day.
7. Keep your portions in check.
8. Sugar is a terrorist to your body. Stop negotiating with it.
9. Eat as many veggies as you can get your hands on.
10. If you feel like your crashing, shaky, or can’t concentrate you are probably not eating enough. Stop starving yourself. Listen to your body and EAT. Just eat the right things.
11. Stop obsessing about what you will eat. Ideally protein with every meal and veggies with every meal.
What I do:
I do my best to live by this when it comes to nutrition and exercise.
“Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes” Ecclesiastes 7:18
1. I have a set grocery store day every week. The day before I plan our meals based on schedule, kids activities, church etc. I use a crockpot almost every other day. Two meal planning services I love are paleoplan.com and The Nourished Kitchen.com. I’m blessed to work at home now so I am able to prepare meals. If you work full time then use Sunday afternoon as your prep day. Cook as much meat as you can and cut up as much veggies as you can and store them in containers in your fridge so they are ready to go.
2. I stick to a paleo based diet 80% of the time. My grain and bean intake is very limited along with dairy. I use almond milk, coconut milk, almond flour, and coconut flour. Occasionally I will use organic whole wheat pastry flour and whole wheat flour. This didn’t used to always be the case but I have found I feel the best this way.
3. I have a cheat meal once a week and am a little bit more lax on the weekends with grains.
4. I keep my portions in check.
5. I eat dark organic chocolate regularly. 70% cacao or higher.
6. I take A LOT of supplements and don’t go a day without them. You can find out which ones here.
7. I eat every three hours.
8. On days I train I eat more clean carbs via yams, sweet potatoes, spaghetti squash, acorn squash, etc.
9. I drink tons of water. 3 glasses as soon as I wake up to get things moving.
10. If I’m traveling or have a full day training clients where I’m not at home, I take a cooler packed with snacks and clean foods. Veggies, protein and advobars. I gather all this together the day before so it’s ready to go.
11. I hate fast food and refuse to eat it if at all possible.
12. I sip on apple cider vinegar, raw honey, and lemon juice
13. For sweetener which is used sparingly I use natural sweeteners like stevia in the raw, sucanat, raw honey, and coconut nectar.
14. I don’t count calories but have learned to pay attention to portions and have a mental rolodex of what I am consuming.
15. I use a good, better, best mentality with eating choices and try to pick the best option 50% of the time. I don’t beat myself up for the other 50%. I accept responsibility and train hard.
Take this and try some of it. Listen to your body and stay consistent. Most of all, stop obsessing and execute. Take the emotion out of your food decisions and understand that if you want different results you must do things differently. If you want to look like an athlete you must train and eat like one.
Speaking The Truth in Love,
Lindsey Nadler
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