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Last week we started the Change Your Life Series; a series of ten blog posts that (if followed) will change your life – guaranteed! The first post was centered around Exercise. For the last seven days you have been slowly increasing the amount of exercise into your routine and you should be starting to feel the benefits: enhanced energy levels, better mood and an increased ability to think clearly. This week we are going to take all of this to a new level. And best of all, it is easy!
Diet is Key
Eat Healthily
Want to be More Muscular? -Simple; you need to eat more. Obviously you need to combine this with increased exercise and weight training, but essentially you want to ‘up’ your total consumption and increase your meal frequency. Your meals might not individually get any bigger (they may even get smaller) but you are going to have more of them. Go for complex carbs, proteins and good fats (nuts avocado etc.)
Want to Lose Weight? – Simple; you need to eat less. Don’t cut out all the fats or all the carbs, rather reduce your total consumption of food. Combine this with increased exercise and you are onto a winning combination. Don’t empty all the food out the pan on your plate. It is OK to throw stuff in the bin / keep for later / recycle. Making soups is a great way of concocting leftovers!
We all know what is healthy and what sucks. If you have to think about it or look at the nutritional information on the wrapper.. then it is probably not good for you. Don’t try and talk yourself into eating it… Just put it down. Don’t buy junk food… If you have to have it in the house, hide it in a cupboard or get someone else to hide it from you. Out of Sight, Out of Mind. Cut out fizzy drinks / crisps / sugary junk! Drink lots of water -you are often thirsty when you think you are hungry.Limit takeaways to once a fortnight (or once a month if you can take it).
Eat lots of fruit and vegetables, fish, red meats, white meats and wholegrain. Eat in moderation. Teach yourself to cook. Buy a cookbook, download an App and buy raw ingredients.. then just do it. You can follow video guides online or make it up yourself! It will take some practice to perfect, but home cooked food is 10x better for you than ready meals / takeaways. There is a reason that home cooked foods only lasts a few days before going off -vs- ready meals that sit on the shelves for weeks – home cooked food is not crammed full of preservatives. Cooking DIY will make you healthy.
I think the most important point to take out of this step is the awareness of the huge impact that food has on your mood / energy / bodyweight / bodyshape / skin / self-confidence / fitness. Some people need to change their diet more than others, but everyone can always improve. As human beings, we are not designed to eat processed food; cavemen didn’t have fancy sauces with additives or microwave meals. Go back to basics and eat food from raw ingredients when you can. Your body will appreciate them more and know just what to do with them. Your metabolism in turn will work better and so will everything else.
Did anyone manage to increase the exercise in their routine last week? What areas of your diet are you going to aim to improve?
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