Never Go Hungry Again - Everyday Food plan/ideas
I don’t know about you, but if I had to consult a chart, formulate some kind of substitution plan, or calculate calories at every turn, I'd starve. Eating plans need to be simple, because life is complicated. And that's what the Eating Right Every Time is – simple. Figuratively, it stands for the principles of what this body-transforming way of eating is all about. Literally, it stands for:
1.Almonds and other nuts 2.Beans and pulses 3.Spinach and other green vegetables 4.Dairy(fat-free or low fat milk, yoghurt,
cheese) 5.Instant and quick-cooking oats(unsweetened) 6.Eggs | 7.Turkey, other lean meats and fish 8.Peanut butter 9.Olive oil 10.Whole grain breads and cereal 11.Extra-Protein (whey)powder 12.Raspberries and other berries |
As you can see, these 12 foods, or food groups, if you will, constitute a veritable example of dietary choices. You can use the acronym when you’re shopping, when you’re cooking at home and when you’re eating out.
If you revolve your meals around these 12 Powerfoods, you’ll know exactly what to order, what to shop for and how to eat right every time. You’ll have armed yourself with the ‘friend’ category of nutrients that will help your body lose fat and gain lean muscle, and you’ll have shunned the ‘enemy’ category of junk foods that threaten to lay waste to your waist.
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1: Almonds and Other Nuts
Superpowers: builds muscle, fights cravings
Secret weapons: protein, monounsaturated fats, vitamin E, fibre, magnesium, folic acid (peanuts), phosphorus.
Fights against: obesity, heart disease, muscle loss, wrinkles, cancer, high blood pressure
Sidekicks: flaxseed, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, avocados
Imposters: salted or smoked nuts
These days, you hear about good fats and bad fats the way you hear about good cops and bad cops. One’s on your side, and one's gonna beat you silly! Biscuits fall into the latter category, but nuts are clearly out to help you. They contain the monounsaturated fats that clear your arteries and help you feel full.
All nuts are high in protein and monounsaturated fats. For example: a hand full of almonds provides half the amount of vitamin E you need in a day and 8 per cent of the calcium. If you wash any nuts with water, the fluid helps expand the fibre in the nuts to help you feel fuller.
Here are ways to seamlessly introduce almonds and other nuts into your diet.
- · Add chopped nuts to peanut butter
- · Toss a handful of nuts on cereal, yoghurt or ice cream
- · Put almond slivers in an omelette
One warning, before you get all nutty: smoked and salted nuts don’t make the cut here, because of their high sodium content. High sodium can mean high blood pressure.
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2: Beans and Pulses
Superpowers: builds muscle, helps burn fat, regulates digestion
Secret weapons: fibre, protein, iron, folic acid
Fights against: obesity, colon cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure
Sidekicks: lentils, peas, bean dips, hummus, edamame (green soya beans)
Imposters: refried beans, which are high in saturated fats; baked beans, which are high in sugar.
Beans are, as the song says, good for your heart; the more you eat them, the more you’ll be able to control your hunger. Black, butter, kidney, chickpea – you pick the bean (as long as it's not refried – refried beans are loaded with fat). Beans are low-calorie food packed in protein, fibre and iron – ingredients crucial for building muscle and losing weight. You can swap a bean-heavy dish for a mean-heavy dish a couple of times per week; you'll be lopping a lot of saturated fat out of your diet and replacing it with higher amounts of fibre.
The best beans for your diet are:
- Soya beans
- Chick beans
- Haricot beans
- Black beans
- Kidney beans
- Butter Beans
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3: Spinach and Other Green Vegetables
Superpowers: neutralizes free radicals, which are molecules that accelerate the ageing process
Secret weapons: vitamins including A, C and K; folic acid; minerals including calcium and magnesium; fibre; beta-carotene
Fights against: cancer, heart disease, stroke, obesity, osteoporosis
Sidekicks: cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and Brussels sprouts; green, yellow, red and orange vegetables like asparagus, beans and peppers
Imposters: none, as long as you don't fry them or smother them in fatty cheeses
You know vegetables are packed with important nutrients, but they're also a critical part of your body-changing diet. I like spinach in particular because one serving supplies nearly a full day's worth of vitamin A and half of your vitamin C. It's also loaded with folic acid – a vitamin that protects against heart disease, stroke and colon cancer. To incorporate spinach into your diet, you can take the fresh stuff and use it as lettuce on a sandwich or try stir-frying it with a little olive oil and garlic.
Another potent power vegetable is broccoli. It's high in fibre and more densely packed with vitamins and minerals that almost any other food. For instance, broccoli contains nearly 90 per cent of the vitamin C of fresh orange juice and almost half as much calcium as milk. It is also a powerful defender against diseases like cancer because it increases the enzymes that help detoxify carcinogens. Tip: with broccoli, you can skip the stalks. The florets have three times as much beta-carotene as the stems, and they're also a great source of other antioxidant. Sauté in olive oil and garlic and douse them with hot chilli sauce.
If you hate vegetables, you can learn to hide them but still reap the benefits. Try pureeing them and adding them to pasta sauces or chilli con carne. The more you chop the puree vegetables, the more invisible they become, and the easier it is for your body to absorb them.
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4: Dairy (Fat-Free or Low-Fat Milk, Yoghurt, Cheese)
Superpowers: builds strong bones, fires up weight loss
Secret weapons: calcium, vitamins A and B12, riboflavin, phosphorus, potassium
Fights against: osteoporosis, obesity, high blood pressure, cancer
Sidekicks: cottage cheese, low-fat soured cream
Imposters: Whole milk, frozen yoghurt
Dairy is nutrition's version of a typecast actor. It gets so much attention for one thing it does well – strengthening bones – that it gets little or no attention for all the other stuff it does well. It's about time for diary to accept a breakout role as a vehicle for weight loss. Researches think that calcium probably prevents weight gain by increasing the breakdown of body fat and hampering its formation.
Low-fat yoghurt, cheeses and other dairy products can play an important role in your diet. But as your major source of calcium, I recommend milk for one primary reason: volume. Liquids can take up valuable room in your stomach and send the signal to your brain that you're full. Adding in a sprinkling of chocolate powder can help curb sweet cravings while still providing nutritional power.
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5: Instant and Quick-Cooking Oats (Unsweetened, Unflavoured)
Superpowers: boosts energy and sex drive, reduces cholesterol, maintains blood sugar levels
Secret weapons: complex carbohydrates and fibre
Fights against: heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer, obesity
Sidekicks: high-fibre cereals like All-Bran
Imposters: cereals with added sugar and high-fructose corn syrup
A cool fact about oats: preliminary studies indicate that oats raise the levels of free testosterone in your body, enhancing your body’s ability to build muscle and burn fat and boosting your sex drive.
Oatmeal is a perfect 10! You can eat it at breakfast to propel you through sluggish mornings, a couple of hours before a workout to feel fully energized by the time you hit the weights, or at night to avoid a late-night binge. Only buy the unsweetened, unflavoured variety and use other Powerfoods such as milk and berries to enhance the taste. Pre-flavoured oats often come loaded with sugar calories.
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6: Eggs
Superpowers: builds muscle, burns fat
Secret weapons: protein, vitamin B12, vitamin A
Fights against: obesity
Sidekicks: none
Imposters: none
For a long time, eggs were considered pure evil, and doctors were more likely to recommend tossing eggs at passing cars than into omelette pans. That’s because just two eggs contain enough cholesterol to put you over your daily recommended intake. Though you can cut out some of the cholesterol by removing part of the yolk and using whites, more and more research shows that eating an egg or two a day will not raise your cholesterol levels, as once previously believed. In fact, we’ve learned that most blood cholesterol is made by the body from dietary fat, not dietary cholesterol. And that’s why you should take advantage of eggs and their powerful make-up of protein.
The protein found in eggs has the highest ‘biological value’ of protein – a measure of how well it supports your body’s protein need – of any food. IN the other words, the protein in eggs is more effective in building muscle than protein from other sources, even milk and beef. Eggs also contain vitamin B12, which is necessary for fat breakdown.
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7: Turkey, Other Lean Meats and Fish
Superpowers: builds muscle, improves the immune system
Secret weapons: protein, iron, zinc, creatine(beef), omega-3 fatty acids (oily fish), vitamin B6 (chicken and fish) and B12, phosphorus, potassium
Fights against: obesity, various diseases
Sidekicks: shellfish, back bacon
Imposters: sausage, streaky bacon, cured meats, fatty cuts of steak like T-bone and rib-eye
A classic muscle-building nutrient, protein is the base of any solid diet plan. You already know that it takes more energy for your body to digest the protein in meat than it does to digest carbohydrates or fat. Many studies support the notion that high-protein diets promote weight loss.
Among meats, turkey is a rare bird. Turkey breast is one of the leanest meats you’ll find, and it packs nearly one-third of your daily requirements of niacin and vitamin B6. The dark meat, if you prefer it, has lots of zinc and iron. One caution, though: if you’re roasting a whole turkey for a family feast, avoid self-basting birds, which have been injected with fat.
Beef is another classic muscle –building protein food. It’s the top food source for creatine – the substance your body uses when you lift weights. Beef does have a downside; it contains saturated fats, but some cuts have more than others. Look for topside, rump or fillet steak; sirloins are less fatty than prime ribs and T-bones. Wash down that steak with a glass of skimmed milk.
To cut down on saturated fats even more, concentrate on fish like tuna and salmon, because they contain a healthy dose of omega-3 fatty acids as well as protein. These fatty acids lower levels of hormone called leptin in your body. A bonus benefit: researchers in Stockholm studied the diets of more than 6,000 men and found that those who ate no fish had three times the risk of prostate cancer than those who are it regularly. It’s the omega-3s that inhibit prostate cancer growth.
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