I am constantly surprised by the number of people that think they can eat fast food junk in ridiculous quantities and think 30 minutes of exercise would make it all good !! IT WILL NOT !! :) Similarly I see (mainly blokes) training at the gym and working hard but can't seem to get rid of the big gut. People will tell you its 80/20 (or 70/30) where it 80% food and 20% exercise and this is so true and we all tend to forget this. Some general tips in particular for those 30+ folks..
- Avoid fast food like the plague. Maccas, hungry jacks, kfc, red rooster etc. NO MORE not even occasionally. Its not worth it.
- Avoid white carbs like the plague too, that includes white rice, pasta, white bread etc.
- Anything deep fried is a definite no.
- Minimize sweets.
- For those specially trying to lose weight, please don't just eat one meal a day, you are making things a lot worse for you. Its counter productive to starve yourself.
- Try to eat 4-5 meals a day (small meals :) I realize this is hard to do especially when we are at work during the day, but try to sneak in a handful of nuts or some fruit in-between and reduce the otherwise massive meal you might have.
- Do not miss breakfast, at least have a cereal bar. Ideally have a big breakfast full of protein and good fats.
- Have your carbs during the day and avoid them after 6pm. So no rice, pasta, pizza, bread etc at night. This is hard if you aren't used to it, so if you absolutely can't avoid it just have a handful of wholemeal and unprocessed carbs if you must.
- Make sure you have a good intake of healthy fats, Salmon, Avocado, Nuts, etc. These are good for you despite being fatty.
- I need not say this but I'll state the obvious - don't smoke and limit your alcohol intake to 3-4 standard drinks a week.
All of the above sounds hard to follow but trust me (I'm a dr. :) once you get into the habit of things and be conscious about what you eat, it will come naturally and you will feel better all around. Good luck !
Hey John, can you comment on fruit juice consumption? I read somewhere that it can be as fattening as soft drinks. A lot of people these days consume way too much juice
ReplyDeleteHey Green Lantern, depends what you mean.. fresh fruit juice with no added sugars are fine to have and certainly encouraged. If you mean the juice you buy in the supermarkets thats packed with sugars then yes its not terribly healthy mainly because of the sugars you end up consuming large amounts of calories. Having said all that, it is better to eat fresh fruit than juice it, because that juicing process knocks out important fibre and water soluble vitamins.
ReplyDeleteAll of the above sounds like sensible advice to me.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I would comment on, though, is that all foods are not the same.
For example, our eggs from our own chooks are hugely different in taste and yolk colour/texture from supermarket eggs.
I've read a number of good studies comparing the omega fatty acid content of eggs from different sources.
They suggest that even something as simple as an egg can vary hugely in nutritional quality, depending on where it comes from and what the animal that produced it ate / where it lived etc.
So if you want to eat well, it pays to check where your food comes from as well. Personally, I don't think you can beat home grown / free range / organic - but then, running a small organic farm with Michael, I might be biased! :-)
Thanks for sharing Leanne and great work with the farm looks awesome !!
ReplyDeleteDr. JT,any chances of having "Nutrition" spiced up with any basic recipes?
ReplyDeleteor, can you give an example of your daily meals?
thanks :)
hmm that is possibly another blog Olga :) But I will post some unusual recipes like the cereal bars that I make. I have a couple of favorites though they aren't my invention so I'll have to find the source. I'll tell you what I had today though..
ReplyDeleteBreakfast 8.30 - oats/muesli with milk, a handful of almonds and dates and a 100% fruitnVeg juice, coffee
11.00 - nut bar (brazil nuts & almond) & coffee
13.00 - Burrito from MadMex for lunch as I didn't take any lunch to work. I like mad mex cause its like subway with fresh ingredients and the meat is low fat (or so they say :) I never trust the cheese they use so that's the only thing I say no to.
16.00 - peanut snack
20.00 - Stirfry of 300g steak cubed, 2 capsicums, and about 200g of green beans. I stirfried them in garlic, ginger, and a cinamon stick with a hint of chilli.
20.45 - as I'm typing this now I'm eating an apple :) and I'll have a cup of green tea in a bit and that would be it..