Summer Healthy Eating Plan
We should all be following a healthy eating plan along with regular resistance training and cardiovascular exercises plus stretching and enough rest. If you do not know what eating healthy is, then read-on for a sensible plan. This plan will give you the right carbs in the morning and afternoon for energy, then the fibrous veggie carbs for the evening. The idea behind my plan is that we all need energy early in the day starting right after waking-up. We then need a consistent flow of the right carbs throughout the early part of the day, then lower carbs (veggies, usually greener the better) evening and later when we tend to slow down. Once we slow down we do not need the extra carbs and energy, so if we ate lots of starches late in the day we would not use them for fuel but store as fat! We do not need to gain fat by eating too many starchy carbs late in the evening.
Here is an outline of the Summer Healthy Eating Plan (Food every 2-3 hours):
Meal One (Breakfast): Protein, Complex Carb, and Water
Snack One (Mid-Morning): Protein, Fruit, and Water
Meal Two (Lunch): Protein, Complex Carb, and Water
Snack Two (Late Afternoon): Protein, Fruit, and Water
Meal Three (Dinner): Protein, Veggie, and Water
Snack Three (Late Evening & Optional): Protein, Veggie, and Water
Here are a few choices for Proteins, Fruits, Complex Carbs, and Veggies:
Some Healthy Protein Choices:
Chicken Breasts, Turkey Breasts, Pork Tenderloin, Deer, Eggs, Low Fat Milk, Soy Protein, Whey Protein, Cheese Sticks, Cottage Cheese, Almonds, Walnuts, Pecans, Yogurt, Shrimp, Tilapia, Flounder, Tuna Steaks, Canned Tuna, Canned Chicken, Grouper, Swordfish, Pork Chops, Tofu, Turkey Burger, Chicken Burger, Lean Beef Burger, Pinto Beans, Navy Beans, Black Beans, White Beans, Kidney Beans
Some Healthy Fruit Choices:
Apples, Pears, Grapefruit, Oranges, Peaches, Cantaloupe, Honeydew Melon, Watermelon, Kiwi, Nectarines, Plums, Strawberries, Blueberries, Grapes, Dates, Prunes, Cherries, Blackberries, Cranberries, Guava, Mangos, Pineapple, Tangerines
Some Healthy Complex Carb Choices:
Oatmeal, Sweet Potatoes, Yams, Quinoa, Whole Grain Breads, Whole Wheat Pastas, Brown Rice, Wild Rice, Veggie Pasta, Whole Wheat English Muffins, Red Potatoes, Granola Unsweetened, Whole Grain Bagels
Some Healthy Veggie Choices:
Broccoli, Green Beans, Asparagus, Collard Greens, Turnip Greens, Mushrooms, Onions, Cauliflower, Kale, Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Avocado, Green Peppers, Jalapeno Peppers, Yellow Peppers, Orange Peppers, Red Peppers, Cilantro, Iceberg Lettuce, Romaine Lettuce, Spinach, Carrots, Celery, Cabbage
Summer Diet and Exercise Tips
1. Eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables to provide your body with lots of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants!
2. Stay cool and well hydrated by drinking lots of cold water as often as possible. Do not stuff yourself with water, just be sensible and drink till satisfied consistently throughout each day!
3. Grill, bake, or broil your meats and fish to cut calories then add herbs, spices, and seasonings to add low calorie but great flavors.
4. Wash your meats, fish, fruits, and veggies thoroughly to get rid of as much bacteria as possible.
5. Avoid Fast Food Restaurants! They are making us Fat, Bloating Us, Draining our Pocket Books, and Killing Us!
6. If you have to eat out opt for lean meats, veggies, whole grains, non-sweetened fruits and dairy!
7. Keep water with you always by having it in your car, office, school, gym, etc.
8. Pack a cooler each morning with healthy foods and water for you so you do not get stuck somewhere without healthy foods!
9. Workout with Resistance Training Exercises 3 times per week for at least 30 minutes each time!
10. Workout doing Cardiovascular Exercises 3 times per week for at least 30 minutes each time!
11. Stretch before, during, and after each workout!
12. Workout with friends and/or family to support each other’s healthy lifestyles!
13. Do not make excuses anymore! Gone are the days of excuses and blaming everyone else!
14. Check with your doctor before beginning any exercise plan to make sure your cardiovascular system is OK!
15. Take a cooking class to learn a variety of ways to season and spice things-up!
16. Hire a Certified Personal Trainer, to learn more about safe exercising techniques, workout planning, proper exercise form, nutritional planning, healthy food options, motivation and accountability!
17. Stop with the FAD DIETS! They DO NOT WORK!
18. Practice some Self-Discipline and get on with healthy exercising and healthy eating!
19. Have a few reward meals each week to eat a bit of junk to help you keep sanity!
20. Try to be good throughout the weekdays then you can reward yourself on the weekends a little!
If your doctor is telling you to get on a no-carb diet and avoid a healthy daily combination of fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, complex carbs, drinking water, resistance training, stretching, cardiovascular exercise, and rest then please check with another doctor. If you are only eating lots of junk all day, every day, then common sense will tell you that the above healthy food combinations will get you on the right path. Check with your doctor before trying the above plan if you are diabetic or allergic to any of the above foods. If you really want to lose weight and you seek help from your doctor and he or she puts you off on some unhealthy pre-made or processed food plan such as Nutri System, Jenny Craig, or Weight Watchers, etc… or some other plan that does not get long lasting results and benefits, then check with another doctor and let me know about it.
I am hearing more and more of doctors putting people on unhealthy plans and telling them to not exercise with resistance and cardiovascular exercises plus stretching. They are setting you up to fail again and again! If you are not really ready to lose weight and practice self-discipline then you yourself are setting you up to fail also. Most commercial food plans and diets do not help you to eat for nourishing your body, they are only low calorie, and not healthy for your body. If your system tells you eating white dough cheese pizza is not bad, then it is lying to you. You want to eat to benefit your body, not just eat low calorie for the sake of low calories. If you run out of points early in the day and cannot eat anymore, then you will stall your metabolism and gain more fat. This is not good! We have to consistently supply healthy foods to our body all day to keep blood sugar up and metabolism running high.
Our ancestors were not obese and they ate combinations of healthy foods all day every day. The more processed junk we eat the more fat we will gain. The lazier we are the more fat we gain. When we workout, eat healthy, and get plenty of rest we lose lots of body fat and keep it off!
Cut Out the Junk and You Will Cut Out the Fat! Work It Out To Workout!
Have a great weekend!
- Dave
