4 SIMPLE STEPS TO TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR FOOD
by Jonathan and Blakley Fletcher
Taking control of your food can be a lasting change if you step into the plan with a sustainable approach. Don’t go cold turkey! Use the guidelines we discussed at our last nutrition seminar to master your nutrition. Let’s start today!
STEP 1: IDENTIFY EMPTY CALORIES
Look for things like sodas, ‘big’ coffees like Frappuccino and Lattes, smoothies with a lot of sugar, excessive alcohol, and sweets. You won't believe the affect on your overall daily calories that replacing or eliminating one or two of these items will have!
STEP 2: EAT REAL FOOD
Take this step slowly so that it becomes a sustainable part of your lifestyle not a sudden change that doesn’t last.
If your diet consists of a lot of pre-made, boxed or restaurant food, try replacing one or two items a week with a real, whole food item or meal.
But why do we want you to do this?
First, we want you to get all the benefits (meaning all the vitamins and minerals) that come from eating real food. For example, it’s breakfast time and you’re off to work early. You grab a croissant sandwich and a coffee from Starbucks. What if you made overnight oats that contained protein or had a side of protein and took that with you and enjoyed it at your desk or even before you left the house? Now you’re getting both a more balanced meal, less calories AND getting the nutritional benefits from real food. That also leads me to my next point..
You can just eat a ton more food for the same or less calories! Say you head to Chipotle for lunch. You get the salad. Even without the guac and cheese you are consuming 600 calories and you don’t even have a single chip! Add the quac, cheese and a few chips and we are well over 1000 calories for lunch. If you made that same meal ate home you are closer to 350 calories and can then eat a 3:00pm snack and even one after dinner. Your overall caloric intake for the day is much lower and you ate a ton more because you ate more real food.
Again, take this step slow. Don’t go cold turkey and don’t completely deprive yourself of the things you like to do (like going to Starbucks or Chipotle). Like everything, do it in moderation and you are A-OK.
STEP 3: MAKE YOUR PLATE
Using the ‘hand rule’ we discussed last week you can begin to learn how much protein, carbohydrates and fat to eat at each meal. If you missed it, check out the hand rule in the link in our bio!
STEP 4: GET SPECIFIC
Not until all these steps are mastered do we begin to get specific and consider exact amounts of macro nutrients (protein, carbohydrates and fat) to eat for performance.
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions!