Today

Preparation increases our chances to achieve success. To be properly prepared we need a structure to point us in the right direction. This structure helps us repeat desirable patterns until they became habits. When we create habits, behaviors became automatic and results follow.  In this blog post I will apply this concept to nutrition and go over 10 rules that will help you develop great eating habits. The information I will provide comes from the world renewed Precision Nutrition System and it has worked for thousands of people. Follow these rules until they became a part of your daily routine. You could start by adopting all rules at once or pick one or two to begin with. For most people a conservative approach will work better and since the change we want to see it’s for life then we can take a little longer to make things permanent. Here are the rules:

1. Eat every 2-3 hours: this does not mean that we should eat a full meal every 2-3 hours but rather use healthy snacking to manage blood sugar levels, keep cravings under control and make full meals healthy.
2. Eat complete, lean protein each time: the body spends more energy digesting protein and this helps manage hunger and cravings. Protein sources can be animal such as fish, chicken, eggs or lean meats; or vegetarian such as soy, tempeh or chlorella or spirulina. Protein powders are very useful as well and they originate from different sources such as whey and casein (milk), albumin (egg), rice or soy. The best strategy when it comes down to protein supplements is to rotate the sources since consuming the same protein supplement for years could potentially develop a food intolerance.
3. Eat vegetables with every meal: vegetables contain essential nutrients and provide an alkaline load to the blood which helps balance the acidic load produce by grains and meats. Vegetables are also low in calories and high in nutrients making them high in nutrition density, a very good thing. It isn’t always easy to eat vegetables but we can develop strategies to consume them more often. Some of these strategies include eating more servings in some meals to compensate for the lack of vegetables on others, chop vegetables at home and have them prepared to produce a quick meal or to consume vegetable supplements such as Greens Plus. Picture a serving fitting in the palm of your hand and aim for 10 to 15 a day servings of vegetables.
4. Consume “other carbs” only after exercise: by other carbs I mean grains such as bread, rice or pasta. There is more research now that links grain consumption with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. After exercise our bodies’ best tolerate these carbohydrates so it is the ideal time to reward ourselves. During the rest of the day it is best to stick with lean protein, vegetables and fruits.
5. Eat healthy fats: there are three types of fats-saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. Balancing our consumption of these three types can dramatically improve our health and helps us lose fat. Saturated fats should come from animal products; monounsaturated fat should come from mixed nuts and olive oils while polyunsaturated fat should come from flaxseed oil and mixed nuts as well.
6. Drink calorie free drinks: this means doing away or reducing consumption of fruit juices, sodas or alcoholic beverages. To be lean stick with water and sugar free teas.
7. Eat whole foods: supplements are great and can play an important role in our diet. Nevertheless, the focus should be on consuming unprocessed whole foods.
8. Follow the 90% rule: if you follow the first 7 rules 90% of the time you are bound to reach great success. The difference between following the first 7 rules 100% or 90% is negligible. It is important to the math so if we are eating 5 meals per day for 7 days a week that is 35 meals. This means that we can break the rules on 3 or 4 meals.

Besides following these rules it is important that we learn how to shop, prepare food and add variety to our diets; I plan to cover those topics in the coming weeks. By following these rules and transforming them into habits thousands of people have changed their physiques and improved their lives. Finally, a quote from Precision Nutrition’s Dr. Berardi:”Consistency, not novelty is the secret to uncommon results”.

Luis

On Monday July 2nd of 2012, 45 year old Dara Torres swam the 50 meters freestyle at the Olympic Trials and finished fourth. She missed making the 2012 Olympic Games by 0.09 seconds. Torres who made her first Olympic Games in 1984 and won 12 medals in 5 Olympic Games won’t be competing in London.

Nine hundredths of a second separated her from what would of have been one of the most impressive achievements in sports history. But, is Dara Torres not making a historic appearance in the Olympics at 45 a failure? My, answer is no.

The reason why, is because from the moment that she decided to test her limits and reach for glory failure was no longer possible.

When an athlete or anyone else pushes pass their comfort zone and carves a new path the options change. It is no longer about success or failure. It becomes about the experience of being alive, truly alive.

All of us have had special moments in life. We call them different things: following our bliss, feeling blessed, being in the zone and experiencing flow. Whatever, our definition might be we have all at some point of our life felt like we could not fail. We were there in the moment, living our lives like the Universe was our playground.

When Dara Torres stepped up on that block she was beyond winning or losing at the point where the glass is always full and failure was not possible. We can all get there. Life is waiting for us to step up on the block with fire in our hearts and the burning desire to give everything we got.

I wish you all a Happy 4th of July and let the lights in the sky be a reminder that fire shines brighter in the dark.