Nutrition advice
My passion is training and healthy eating, I live and breathe this and am always learning more and more each day about our bodies and how our systems work. I am amazed at what people are unaware of when it comes to foods and nutrition.
I am always talking to my clients about their eating habits and they always like to discuss healthy options and giving them advice is important to complement their training and workouts.
Many people think of getting fit by running a fun run, as do people wanting to lose weight fast they want to go on a quick fix diet mainly a low-carb diet.
However a low-carb diet combined with intense training can also trigger a stress response, elevating cortisol hormone levels, which in turn can trigger cravings and make abdominal fat more resistant to reduction. You don’t need to go low-carb, you just need to cut down on the amount of bread, rice and pasta in your diet and try to change it to wholemeal style, cut down on starchy foods and high sugared foods.
Increasing protein in your diet is needed when you are wanting to increase your muscle mass and reduce your body fat. Before going out and buying lots of protein supplements, firstly monitor how much protein you currently consume and then work out if you need more through added supplements. One gram per kilogram of body weight is required to reduce body fat, 1.5 gram per kilo for more serious trainers and 2 grams per kilo for those wanting to add more muscle. Be aware you need to increase your water intake to the increase of protein.
NEVER cut out food groups. You need all the vitamins and minerals the different food groups offer, cutting out dairy foods can affect the calcium your body needs, careful of osteoporosis. Cutting out fruits which contain good fibre can affect your bowels etc.
A good diet includes all food groups and I suggest you note down what you eat so as you can monitor what food groups you may be lacking. Your daily intake should include:
5 serves of vegetables – helps to provide antioxidants that can help reduce low level inflammation associated with insulin resistance and obesity. 2 serves of fruit – again helps provide antioxidants, fibre for fullness and a natural sweet taste. 2 serves of dairy (200ml milk, 20g cheese, 200g yoghurt) – helps provide calcium associated with better fat cell function. 2 serves of protein (1= 100g cooked lean meat or 2 eggs) – help provide amino acids for muscle growth and suppresses the appetite. 3 serves of healthy oils (1serve = 5g oil or 10g nuts or 1/8 avocado) – help optimise cellular function and enhance fat loss, more so when omega-3 fish oils are consumed. 3 starches (1-= medium potato or ¼ cup muesli or 1 small slice wholemeal bread) – helps provide fibre, low-glycaemic index carbohydrates to balance appetite hormones and a bit of brain food.
Please note there are NO QUICK fixes out there, it’s about getting your body right on the inside to be able to get it to function correctly and then with a healthy balanced diet and regular exercise your body will lose the body fat and weight loss will occur. Taking weight loss pills will not “speed” this up, learning and understanding nutrition and the nutrients in food will be more beneficial to your health. Aside from multivitamins, magnesium powder and fish oil liquid supplements to help boost your cell function along with clean eating; there shouldn’t be any other supplements you should need unless advised by a dietitian/nutritionist/naturopath.
Your main outlook needs to be; – Fat loss – Muscle gain – Good fitness program – Real foods – Right amount
The challenge is; – learning how to eat – patience – prepare/organisation – maintain a healthy diet
“It’s not rocket science, but it is food science and that takes some commitment to master. The results are worth it” Matt O’Neill, BScMSc (Nut&Diet), APD,AN
Please incorporate 3 – 4 training/exercise sessions a week which include a variety high intensity, weight lifting, stretching and cardio. Keep changing it up to make the body change.
Enjoy your training and your healthy eating.
