Fruit juices contain no fibers and a lot of sugar, and therefore they need to be avoided
Simple carbohydrates such as fruits and fruit juices taste good and give you an instant spike in sugars, but they are limited in fiber content. You want to restrict them and replace them with fibrous carbohydrates as much as possible.
Dairy products have a decent amount of protein, but they are very low on fiber content so you want to restrict the intake of dairy products.
If you are going in for a competition or photo shoot and want to strip your body off all the fat then you need to exclude starchy carbohydrates completely from the last two meals.
You can reduce your calorie intake from simple sugars by replacing them with artificial sweeteners.
Keep your stress levels low and watch out for high stress and frustrating situations. These are times when your motivation is low and you are likely to go for a quick fix calorie binge.
If you are planning to go on a high calorie binge, or you’re going to a party, or you’re planning to enjoy junk foods… then do it on high carb day and keep it down to 1-2 meals. If you go to restaurants, order liquid items such as clear soup, order grilled items, boiled items and steamed items… but avoid thick creams and fat based recipes and fried items.
Make sure you take a multivitamin-multimineral pill. No matter how balanced your diet… the food you eat can never supply all the micronutrients you need. So supplementing your vitamins and minerals is critical.
High protein diet has a natural diuretic effect. You will pass a lot more urine everyday and if you are working out your water loss is going to be high. It’s important to consume plenty of water to maintain optimal metabolism.
The diet your are about to follow should make you more healthy and increase your health and productivity. However if you’re taking in protein supplements and you feel worried about your overall body health with the new diet, then it is wise to get your blood tested for sugars, lipid levels, liver enzymes and kidney function.
All these tests can be done with a single blood sample at your local clinic. you can repeat the test every 6 months just to ensure that you are fit both internally and externally. This also functions as an overall health check up and will detect diseases such as diabetes, cholesterol related problems at the earliest stage.
Spicing up your food
There is never a reason to be bored with what you’re eating if you’re using spices
To avoid boredom you can swap the foods to change the taste. Ideally you should interchange a protein source with a protein source and a carbohydrate source with a carbohydrate source and as long as the total number of proteins, carbs and calories are kept constant you will get your desired results.
You can also use a wide variety of spices and seasonings such as pepper, garlic powder, coriander, oregano, parsley, spices mix, paprika, sage, thyme, dill, ginger, chopped onion, paprika, etc to make your foods taste different.
You can refer yo youtube for hundreds of free creative videos that show high protein recipes. there are many people out there who follow the ultimate fitness life style and they are more than happy to show you a few quick and easy to make dishes. A good channel I recommend is “lean body lifestyle” for free creative videos
Another option you have is to go to a book store and pick up some books with high protein recipes or shop on amazon for high protein recipes.
There is a lot of room to play and there is no need to punish your taste buds. You can try out many different recipes from different parts of the world and as long as you maintain your macronutrient ratio and calorie intake… you will reap great results.
Weighing and measuring:
Not weighing your foods is a recipe for failure
When you are swapping the recipes and cooking dishes for the first few times you need to weight the foods. You can have a standard measuring cup and determine how much each food weight in that cup.
Oatmeal and cereals are measured dry and uncooked, right out of the container. Rice and pastas are usually measured after cooking. Meats should be weighed before cooking, since some of its contents leak out during cooking.
You need to weigh meats, vegetables, and other products. With practice you will get good at telling the weight just by looking at the quantity of food. However, you want to use cups to measure as many items as possible so that your calculation becomes fool proof.
You can also look at the weight listed on the packing and accordingly estimate the weight of the food item.
You can get a food weighing scale at most department stores and supermarkets, and some health.
Quality of foods: poor choices vs. good choices:
| Eat this: | Avoid this: |
| Grilled chickenLow or non-fat mayonnaiseLow or non-fat cream cheese
100% fruit juice Diet Soda Mushrooms fried in olive oil (2-3 tbsp) Natural and raw foods as obtained from nature Vegetables,Fruits Artificial sweeteners: Equal, Sweet N Low, Stevia All Fruit no sugar jelly Old-fashioned whole oats (Quaker oats) Baked tortilla chips (Baked Tostitos or Guiltless Gourmet) Tuna packed in water Low-fat, non fat, or sugar free frozen yogurt Olive oil Good quality red wine (only on high calorie days) |
Ice creamFried foodsPotato chips
Chocolate, sweets & Cookies Pastries & Doughniuts Soda drinks Sugar-sweetened beverages & juices Bacon, sausage, Hot dogs, fast food burgers White Bread ,Sugary breakfast cereals & corn flakes Canned Fruit in Syrup Regular cheese Table Sugar Fried chicken Tuna in oil Vodka/other heavy drinks/ beer |