Clean, quality, whole food is beyond important for fueling your body and brain properly to get the most out of each day and training session, but also for the rest of your life. Steer clear of diets and lean more into feeding your body healthy whole foods that you enjoy and look forward to eating.
The food you choose to eat should benefit you and help you reach your goals in and out of the gym. Fueling properly will not only help you reach aesthetic goals, but will also help you recover much faster between training sessions, allow you to achieve better quality of sleep, help to regulate your hormones, allow for increased mental clarity, develop a stronger immune system, and SO much more.
Keeping a food journal, hiring a nutrition coach, reading the nutrition labels are all ways to keep yourself accountable especially when working toward a specific goal or working to maintain consistency during a stressful time. How you feed your body is also one way you express self love and give back to YOU.
Scheduling 1-2 treat meals during the week is also very important as it will give you something to look forward to after putting in all your hard work in the gym and in the kitchen each week. I, personally, like to schedule these on my rest and/or active recovery days.
Before the week begins, know what days you will be training and what days you will be taking as active recovery and rest days. This will allow you to schedule and plan your treat meals, but also give you some room and freedom to be spontaneous within that as well. When you have your treat meal remember this should be a meal and not an entire day.
Set a goal to do some form of meal prep before the week begins. If that means planning out your meals or cooking everything all at once before the week begins, this will all help keep you on track throughout the week and be less inclined to get fast food or something that might not be as healthy as the food you prepare ahead of time. This also includes snack prepping! This is especially important if you tend to snack between meals.
Plan your snacks out so that you have something healthy and good for you between breakfast and lunch, and lunch and dinner, and even possibly post dinner depending on what time you eat your last meal. That last snack should be higher in protein with little to no simple sugars. This is especially important in helping regulate your blood sugar and keep it at normal levels while you sleep.
Your last meal should be at least 2 hours or more prior to when you plan to go to sleep. It is not ideal for your body to be attempting to digest its food while it is also trying to sleep and recover from the day. Digestion puts your body at work, which is considered a form of stress, and can cause your body to not recover as efficiently, preventing you from that quality sleep you are after and also needed for optimum recovery.
You will also want to make sure to get in 2:1 carb to protein ratio within 30 minutes after your training session as this will help your body begin to recover, repair, and rebuild itself that much faster and make sure all that hard work you just put in does not go to waste. The carbohydrates act as a carrier for the protein and allow your body to absorb the protein putting it to use much faster. This can also aid in lessening prolonged muscle soreness and delayed onset muscle soreness. My favorite post workout treat is a Rise Bar, of course!!
+ Life Shake protein powder: Getting enough protein into our diets can be a challenge. A great convenient way is having a 20g protein smoothie with good fiber, minerals, all 9 essential amino acids, and low glycemic. The new Life Shake is Powered by Leucine® to help build lean muscle, burn fat, and support metabolism.
+Personalized Nutrition Assessment: Based on life stage, biology, lifestyle, and health goals, Meology determines the precise nutrition each unique person needs to thrive. Great to see what is recommended and why. *Also a new prenatal assessment that is customizable to cover each stage of one’s pregnancy and beyond.
+Custom Nutrition App:Plan, structure and support customized to your needs, ready to meet you wherever you are on your health & fitness journey.
