Food, glorious food!

So, food. We all like it, (some, a little too much!) We all need it. But, how much do we need? What kinds? What proportions? When should we eat it? So many questions! No wonder that when it comes to food, people are confused.

There are a few things to think about when it comes to food.

1. Be honest with yourself. If you are keeping a food journal, (and if you are trying to change weight, up or down, you really should be) be honest. No point in keeping a log of what you eat, if that bag of mini doughnuts is forgotten about, or the second helping of apple pie and ice-cream  is ignored.
If you aren't honest, you won't see the results you want and you will get dis-heartened. If you are working with a trainer, they won't be able to help you get the body of your dreams if your food intake is a nightmare.

2. Ask yourself if you are really hungry? Or are you actually thirsty? They can have amazingly similar signals. Most times I would guess you are probably thirsty, you probably aren't drinking anywhere near enough water. You should be aiming for a minimum of 2 litres every day, if you are training, you can add 1 -1.5 litres on top of that.

3. Eat your vegetables. Lots of them. Calorically low, nutrient high. What more could you ask for? Leave the salad dressing.

4. Eat protein, ideally with every meal.  Eggs at breakfast, protein shakes, chicken, fish, beef, nuts, quinoa, beans and even, if you really really have to, tofu! You need protein for muscle repair, but also for hormones, enzymes and various other bio-bits that you need to survive.

5. You need fat. That's right, need. We need fat to store fat soluble vitamins, to make hormones, vital for cell development, to keep your skin health. The key is to keep saturated fats to an absolute minimum, and to increase your omega 3 intake (found in oily fish and fish oil capsules).

6. Dump the processed crap you like to call food. A good basic rule for buying food is this, if you can't pronounce something that's listed as an ingredient, don't buy it. If the ingredient has more syllables than an Eastern European surname, its probably not a "real" food. You can live without all the chemical crap.

7. Have a cheat day. This isn't a free pass to go nuts and eat whatever you like without consequence. It is however a chance to calm those cravings a little and stay sane if you are living in a calorie deficit. Just be smart about it. Read this! And this!

If you think about these when you are preparing food, or doing your food shopping for the week, you will probably make some decent choices. Check out Leigh Peele, John Romaniello, and Precision Nutrition for some awesome food info.

I plan on doing a more in depth series on nutrition in the very near future, so keep an eye out for more nutritional info coming to a computer screen near you very soon!