10 diet tips for a lean body - Part 2

"What if I told you that no matter what condition you are in now, I could show you how to make lifelong improvements in appearance, strength, self-image, and confidence in just thirty minutes each day?" - Lee Labrada -

1: Plan what you eat, and work the plan...

In other words record everything that goes into your mouth. A really good idea is to keep a training diary.

A good diary should contain sections to record all the information you require.

2: The only way to really be sure about your food intake is to count calories.

If you put more food on your plate...you simply will consume more. Period!

Feel free to use this for analysing food: http://www.my-calorie-counter.com/

Simply list everything you eat each day, then tally up calories and compare with your diet plan.

If you're goal is to strip bodyfat, reduce calories to 2,000 - 2,500 per day. If you're goal is to increase muscle, you could consume 3,500+ calories a day!

3: If you eat early in the day, your body tends to utilise the food you eat much better, but that's not always the case...

Sometimes its better to eat more of your calories in the morning, because you tend to use the food for energy and building muscle.

On the other hand, more frequent lighter meals throughout the day can work better, it all depends on your body and activity levels.

4: Your metabolism is your fat-burning furnance, you wnat it to be stable, so you've more energy, and you stay leaner. Period!

Sugar and highly refined/processed foods plays havoc with your metabolism, especially with insulin and blood sugars.

The best way to get the carbohydrates you need is through complex carbs such as wholemeal bread, cereal, rice and pasta.

Cut out simple sugars (empty calories) and avoid artificial sweetners, lollies, chocolate, ice-cream, jam and fizzy drinks.

Tip: Learn to read and understand food labels and check sugar levels on each and every product (especially the low sugar, fat free, etc)

5: If you're seriously trying to add muscle, your diet and exercise plan would include eating plenty of quality protein, and heavy or itense workouts...

To gain size, eat only organic lean meats, chicken and fish (equivalent to approx 3 grams of protein per kg of bodyweight every day)

Tip: If its difficult for you to consume 3 grams per day, add (100+ grams of fat free) good quality ionised whey protein supplement 2 - 3 times a day.

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6: This tip shows its ugly head in just about every magazine you ever read...

The main reason is because physiologically, you tend to do better when you eat more frequent smaller meals.

Smaller meals don't overload your digestive system as the usual 3 square meals a day can feel heavy.

Plus it doesn't allow your body to slip into a starvation mode, where it can begin burning muscle tissue for energy, you definitely don't want this.

The result is to utilise the nutrients in each meal more completely. So add more frequent meals with protein in each meal.

7: Some say insurance policies are a big waste of money, until you need it, so taking a good quality vitamin & mineral supplement is like insurance.

Studies show anti-oxidants like Vitamin C, E and Beta Carotene are required if you're an athlete to reduce free radicaldamage from extra oxygen uptake...

If you're engaged in intense short duration workouts, you might want the extra nutrients, especially vitamins and minerals.

Deficiencies usually don't show up until you're stressed or severely depleted which is often too late.

Typically, frequent illness or injury indicates a lack of one or more essential micronutrients.

You could take up to 500 - 1000mg of Vitamin C, 500 - 1000 IU's of Vitamin E each day. Make sure your vitamin & mineral supplement contains adequate Beta Carotene too.

8: Depending on your time frame and workout intensity, it's a good idea to not be eating too much food for at least an hour before...

If you find you can't exercise on a full stomach, there are a few tips you can do with your diet to boost workout intensity.

Pre-workout tip is hydration, so drink plenty of water for the few hours before training.

On the product side, look for specifically designed pre-workout supplements that contain nutrients such as complex carbs, Creatine, HMB, L-Carnitine, and energy producing amino acids...designed to boost your workout performance

9: There are two critical time windows you definetly should take advantage of after hard training.

During the first 30 minutes of actually finishing your workout, your muscles are extremely sensitive to the uptake of nutrients.

But your digestive system is partially shut down, so takes 30 - 60 minutes to work effectively.

You could eat simple carbohydrates like banana or something like a carb bar and recovery nutrients such as HMB, BCAA's, L-Glutamine or Colostrum.

From 30 minutes to about 2 hours after, your body is now ready to hungrily absorb nutrition, feeding it the right mix is essential.

Numerous studies have shown that the best nutrition is an easily digested carbohydrate meal for this purpose.

10: Avoid fat laden foods, fats should account for no more than 15 - 20 % of the calories you eat.

Include a pretty low level of good healthy fat, which is essential in your diet...

Low fat eating means you enjoy better health, stay leaner, and have more energy to train and build muscle. Choose lean meats, use butter sparingly.

Virtually all fast food is high in saturated fats, eat only occasionally, and stay away from creamy sauces, toppings and deserts.

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P.S. Here's a quick breakdown of healthy nutrient proportions:

Protein - 30% of calories: Remember that when you are working out your diet plan, protein and carbs contribute about 4 calories for every gram you eat.

Carbohydrates - 55% of calories: There are two basic groups of carbs, simple sugars and complex.

Simple sugars should be avoided, as they're easily converted to and stored as fat. The carbs you should be eating are complex...breads, pasta, rice, potatoes, etc..

Fat - 15% of calories: Fat contributes 9 calories per gram, so you consume more than twice as many calories from eating fat as from protein or carbohydrates...