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getting real about food...
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Hi ,
Okay - Chrissy
and New Year are over, the kids are back at school and we are back on track
with our training. So how can we
maximise the effectiveness of our training to develop those fab bodies we all
want?... Sorry guys, but the truth is it's all about what we eat! It's a generally agreed principle that
weight management is around 60% diet related and 40% about the exercise we do.
I am sure you have heard us say 'we don't do diets'. At fit
mango, we firmly believe that dieting only leads to longer-term weight gain. This happens because by drastically
reducing our calorie intake we not only burn fat, but muscle as well. So when
we eventually go 'off' a diet and back to all our previous bad habits, we
generally put back on all that weight, only now more of it is fat!
What we need to do is adjust our eating and exercising habits
for the long term. No, that
doesn't mean living on water and lettuce leaves (although both should feature
strongly in our diets) and running a daily marathon forever! But it does mean improving our understanding of what we put
into our bodies, along with how many calories we burn during our day.
By training with fit mango, you have taken fantastic steps to
addressing the exercise part of the healthy body equation. So let's talk about the 'eating' part
of the equation.
We believe
the key is having a good understanding of the calorie density and nutritional value
of the foods you eat. It also
means having a good understanding of the nutritional requirements of your body,
then putting the two together.
Here are ten simple tips to get you started...
Want to know how many calories you should be eating a day? Check out dietitian.com .
This website has a great
calculator that gives you an estimated
calorie requirement based on your lifestyle and goals. |
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1. Eat fruit and veggies with EVERY meal
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Governmental
health guidelines suggest two serves of fruit and five serves of veggies every
day. Fruit and veggies are
fantastic. Encourage your kids to eat more, and eat more you  rselves. The great thing about fruit and
vegetables is that in general, you can go to town! No worries about portion control (okay, maybe a little on
some things like potatoes). The
less processed the better. And, of
course, don't drown them in butter or creamy sauces, or cook them to oblivion. Get to love the flavour of the 'au
naturale' variety.
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2. Watch what you drink
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And we
don't mean just alcohol. Soft drinks
we all know are dodgy at best, but juice is at least as calorie laden as Sprite. Try switching to mineral
water or water (zero calories!!) with some lime or lemon juice (fresh, not the bottled, sugar
syrup type). After a couple of
weeks, you will find that soft drinks are just too sweet.
 On the
topic of alcohol, it is important to be measured about how much we drink if we
want to control our weight. A
standard glass of wine (that's 120ml), contains around 90 calories. That's around 5% of our Recommended Daily
Intake (RDI)...think about it.
Have 2 glasses and you have just taken in 10% of your RDI, decide on a
third and you have consumed over 15% of your RDI, and that's before you attack
those lovely cheese and bikkies you have your eye on. So, by all means have a glass of wine to unwind from the
stresses of the day, but be aware of the calorie value of what you are doing
and adjust your calories in other areas to take account of it.
Finally, of
course, DRINK MORE WATER. Humans
are 70% water - we need water for our bodies to function properly. Drink at least 2 litres per day, and
add an extra litre for every hour of exercise you do.
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3. Banish Butter (and all those butter lookalikes).
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Yes, we
know, you love it. So do we. But be honest, will it really diminish
the quality of your life by taking it out of your diet? One teaspoon of butter is worth 35
calories. Most of us would easily use
2 on a single piece of toast, most of us would have 2 pieces of toast....you do
the maths.
Try Avocado instead of
butter. Avocados are quite calorie
dense (1tbs=30cal), but they contain no cholesterol and the good oils our body
needs to function at its best. Low
fat cream cheese also works pretty well, although Avo is better.
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4. Don't snack on the kid's dinner!
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Work out a
strategy to get you through your 'danger period' in the day, where you often
eat empty calories. For many of us
it is when we are making the kid's dinner (ever eaten half of the kids dinner
just coz it was there?) or perhaps it's 3pm when the chockie bikkie craving
hits.
Don't try and deprive
yourself of eating anything, but try a healthy and filling snack. One of our favourites is Vita-wheat
with avocado and tomato (or cream cheese and vegemite). A couple of these will fill you up and
help you stop dipping into the bikkie tin (coz who stops at one?). Another
great choice is a handful of nuts (just a handful, not a bagful!). If you have
trouble with your 5 serves of veggies in a day, try some veggie sticks with a
couple of tablespoons of Humus as a fantastic snack. By the way, one Tim-Tam is worth about 100 calories and 5
grams of fat - a whole packet is 1100 calories - eeekkkkk!
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5. Eat less white stuff
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Change
white bread to brown (or even better, grainy). Change white rice to brown too - if the kids won't take it,
try mixing some brown rice into your white rice and gradually increasing the
proportions. You could try
wholemeal pasta too and swapping potatoes with sweet potato or pumpkin (try
making a mash with a mix of all 3....seriously delicious).
But you must make sure
you eat enough good carbohydrates.
That is, the low and unprocessed types like fruit and veggies, pulses
(you know, lentils, chick peas, stuff like that) and grainy breads.
These are
known as complex carbohydrates.
Don't
be tempted by low or no carb diets.
Our bodies use carbohydrates as their primary source of energy. Without
them, we will not fire up our
body's engine (our metabolism) to burn energy efficiently. We become
lethargic, grumpy and
basically miserable (ever met anyone who is a few weeks into the
Aitkin's diet..
scary!).
Carbs also
make you feel full.
And a word
about carbs at night. Sure you
should control evening carbs. Huge
bowls of rice or pasta are not ideal.
But there is good research to show that carbs can actually help you
sleep well! And sleep is where our
bodies grow and recover. Good
weight loss can be helped by good sleeping patterns. So add a little
complex carbohydrate to your evening meal -
and enjoy it!
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6. Use fruit to satisfy your sweet tooth
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Summer is a
great time to do this - lots of wonderful stone fruits, melon...and of course
our favourite...Mangos. An awesome
desert is to freeze some mixed fresh berries and strawberry slices, even sliced
peach and nectarine, and serve them with some low fat natural yoghurt (Chris's
is good) sweetened with some honey and vanilla - my kids are completely hooked
on this one!
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7. Use less oil to cook
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Where oil
and fat are concerned, a little goes a long, long way. Don't upend the oil
bottle into the frypan to cook those lovely low fat fillet steaks, or heaven
forbid the butter dish! Just spray a light coating of olive oil spray instead - save the
calories for the stuff you really want. Better
still, go fat free and use the BBQ.
Try
dressing your salad with just balsamic vinegar and some seasoning, leaving the
oil in the cupboard. We bet you
won't even notice the difference...but your thighs will!
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8. Eat brekky
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We've said
it before. We will say it again,
and again and again. Eat breakfast
EVERY DAY. If you can only manage
to focus on eating one great meal a day, make it this one. A good breakfast kick-starts our
metabolism and gets our body and brain functioning well. We burn more calories ALL DAY if we
have a healthy brekky. See our
first newsletter for some good ideas on yummy and healthy breakfast ideas. A favourite is muesli with low fat
yoghurt. Try making it yourself,
it's dead easy, and control exactly how much fat is in it.
Try our favourite muesli recipe from Bill Granger. You can delete the oil, we always do, and adjust the add-ins to suit yourself: Bills blueberry and almond muesli
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9. Eat lean protein
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Protein is
vital for brain function as well as muscle recovery and growth. When we train hard - and all of you do,
its important that we feed the muscles to help them
recover well and quickly.
Stronger, more developed muscles (we don't mean 'big or bulky' just lean
and strong) utilise more calories, even at rest, than fat does. So eat
good protein, add a little
muscle and burn more calories!
Great sources
of protein include: - Lean red meat & chicken
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Fish
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Legumes, like lentil sand beans
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Eggs
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Nuts and seeds
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10. Keep a food diary
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Okay,
sounds a little daunting, but trust us.
Do you really know how many calories you are consuming in a day? Truly? Take up the challenge.
Document everything you eat and drink for the next week. And we mean EVERYTHING. Don't cheat
(you are the only one who will see it, so why bother). Use a good calorie counting book or
website. We like The Calorie King
Calorie Counter book or the Calorie King website. I'm
still using the copy I bought in 2001 - best $10 you can spend on nutrition books! Work out how many calories you are
eating on a daily basis. While you
are at it, take a look at the calorie content of your favourite foods. We don't advocate being a calorie Nazi,
but having a clear awareness of what we eat is the key here.
Educate yourself....and get real!
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get real...
Jayne
xx
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62 days to go!
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Join us in the Mothers Day Classic on
Sunday May 9th.
You can chose to run the 8km event or run/walk the 4km event. We would love you to join us. We will have a little celebration after the race to toast your fantastic achievements.
Bring the family, bring your friends, sign up with the fit mango team. The more the merrier!
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Sign up now! Challenge yourself....and get real!
click here... mothers day classic
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