Week 3!!!! How are you feeling? This week is dedicated to eating right. We have recipes, tips and even a food log you can use. We will add this layer to our exercising and our spiritual health weeks. Put all of these together, be consistent, and you are on the road to HEALTH!
DID YOU KNOW…75-80% of your success being healthy is what you eat. Astounding!
Jack Lalanne (the jumping jack is named after him, among MANY other things) said it this way:
“How do you build up your bank account? By putting something in it everyday.Your health account is no different. What I do today, I am wearing tomorrow. If I put inferior foods in my body today, I’m going to be inferior tomorrow, it’s that simple.”
This is Jack Lalanne. I saw this picture in an article I was reading. He is 88 years old here!!
I am NOT saying you are inferior! But I am saying the food you put into your body is the fuel it needs to function properly. You give it bad fuel, and your body will not run as it should. You put PREMIUM fuel into your body, and it runs like a sports car! 
I want to function like Jack when I am 88!
Here are some tips to help you fuel your body better. This could be a blog in itself! So I’m just going to give you some quick tips.
1. Eat 5-6 meals a day. If you are a 3-meal-a-day kind of gal/guy, then eat those meals, with 2 snacks in between.
2. You should be hungry every 3 hours. If not, you are eating too much at your meals. If you are hungry sooner, you aren’t eating enough.
3. If you want to lose weight, you should burn more calories than you take in. Personally, I am not a calorie counter, but if you are, check out this previous post.
Body by God By: Dr. Ben Lerner
It’s about when you eat things. DIETS DO NOT WORK!!!! have you ever noticed you crave something you can’t have? Well, Dr. Ben Lerner talks about this and eating things at the right time in the day. Here’s a synopsis of the food portion of the book:
Carbs: More carbs in the morning meals (fruit), then less carbs in meals as the day wears on.
Proteins: Less in the morning, and MORE as the day wears on. Your body needs more repair as the day progresses, therefore you’ll need more protein. So do the omelette for lunch or dinner!
Fats: You should have less in the morn, and more in the eve. These fats are your HEALTHY fats, like avocado, olive oil, nuts. The amount of fats you should have is SMALL! (think the size of your thumb, or maaaybe 2 thumbs)
I use this plan! For example, I have a fruit smoothie in the morning. Smoothie Recipe. I make a double of this so I have it for my mid-morn snack. At lunch I’ll make a sandwich or burrito of some sort. This is usually a good sized meal. Afternoon snack I dive into the nuts. I make a mix. dinner is protein galore. A good serving of protein is the size and thickness of your palm. I have 1.5 servings of protein, and a handful of veggies, or a fist of whole grains. If you are REALLY craving chocolate (for me it’s Doritos), then have it earlier in the day so your body can work it off! This will help prevent any bingeing too.
5. There is a TON of info out there on portion sizes, so I would check with a registered dietician for more specific info.
6. Make your meals COLORFUL! The whiter the food, the more it’s processed. Stay LOW to the ground. Your groceries should have lots of produce sacks.
This was a recent trip to the grocer. You can’t tell, but I go crazy w/ the produce!
7. PLAN your meals. Every weekend, I map out my week and what recipes I’m going to do/try, and I write out my grocery list. I HAVE to plan, otherwise we end up flying by the seat of our pants and eat out or eat poorly throughout the week.
8. Two hours after each meal, evaluate how you feel. This is a great reflection time so you can tweak any foods you need to. Example: I used to eat my fruit smoothies for a snack at night, and wondered why I couldn’t fall asleep. Once I realized it was the sugars from the fruit, I used the same meal for a morning meal–a perfect starter for the day! You may eat too many carbs and feel sleepy. But gauge how you feel afterward.
LAST thing: Here is a daily food log I revamped from the book above. Try it! It has helped me immensely! When it says “altered food,” I’m talking about ANY food that’s been changed. This would be anything other than fruits, veggies, grains, dairy and meat.
Print this out, and copies for each day:
This is a lot of info, I know. Browse the recipes for good ideas, and I’ll upload more tomorrow!
ONE GIVEAWAY: Subscription to Eating Well. (my FAAAVE magazine)
How do I enter, you might ask? (Pick any of these or all of these methods!)
1. Subscribe to the blog.
2. Leave a comment telling me why you read this blog. What do you look for when you are here? What motivates you? I’m curious!
3. Share us on your facebook or twitter page.
4. Post our giveaway on your blog! (just leave a comment letting me know!)
We’ll randomly choose a winner by NEXT Monday, July 27th!
