Exercise Update » food

Very Unusual Metabolism Boosters

ExerciseUpdate — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 04:36:12 +0000

discover foods that boost metabolism

My partners over at Prograde Nutrition have just released an extraordinary special report.

The last time you went to the supermarket you probably didn’t realize these 4 metabolism boosters even existed. Well, you knew they existed, but you didn’t know they could send your metabolism soaring!

One of them people drink everyday.
One of them is really, really hot.
One you could put on toast – not that we recommend that.
The other, well, it’s becoming wildly popular.

Discover all 4 for yourself right here:

Supermarket Slimming Secrets

The Double-Edged Sword of “Healthy” Fast Food

Tom Venuto — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 02:54:04 +0000

Guest Post By Tom Venuto
www.BurnTheFat.com

What’s on the menu at the big fast food chains lately? Oddly enough, the answer is… “health food!” Even more incongruous, many are marketing their food for weight loss. Healthy weight loss food at Taco Bell and McDonalds? Is this a noble move to be applauded, is it a big corporate money grab, or is it a double edged sword?

Remember Jared Fogle, the Subway guy? He lost 245 pounds while eating at Subway regularly. He simply picked the lower calorie menu items. Seeing an opportunity, the local store owner pitched Subway corporate with an idea. Before long, Jared was the company spokesperson in their nationwide advertising campaigns which became known as The Subway Diet.

Sales doubled to 8.2 billion. How much the increase came from the weight loss ads is unknown, but there’s little doubt that using weight loss as a marketing platform was a boon for the sandwich maker. Other fast food chains picked up the weight loss torch where Subway left off.

The latest is the Taco Bell Drive through diet, with their own skinny spokesperson: Christine! The ads, which are admittedly conservative, perhaps due to more stringent FTC laws, say Christine lost 54 lbs over 2 years by reducing her calories to 1250 a day, and choosing Taco Bell’s new lower calorie “Fresco” items.

These include “7 diet items with 150 to 240 calories and under 9 grams of fat.” For example, there’s a chicken soft taco with only 170 calories and 4 grams of fat.

For people who refuse to give up eating at fast food restaurants, this is arguably a positive thing. Take my brother for example, He’s not a total junk food junkie, but left to his own devices, he WILL make a beeline to Taco Bell and McDonalds.

I went to McDonalds with him a few months ago (I was dragged there), and he was about to order a bacon cheeseburger. I glanced at the menu and said, “That’s 790 calories!” I glanced down at his belly then continued, “Look, they have chicken wraps. Why don’t you have one of those?” Without questioning me, he agreed, apparently happy to get any McDonalds fix.

Right there at the counter they had the nutrition information sheets:

McDonald’s honey mustard grilled chicken wrap: 260 calories, 9 grams fat, 27 grams of carbs, 18 grams of protein.

That saved him 530 calories. Am I happy there was something with only 260 calories on the menu? Absolutely. Do I applaud the fast food restaurants for offering lower calorie choices? You bet. But the big question is: are these really “healthy choices?”

A few journalists and bloggers recently answered, “These fast food diet items are NOT healthy, they’re only ‘healthi-ER.’”

I think they’re both mistaken. I think this food is not healthy nor is it healthier. It’s only lower in calories. If you eat lower calorie food, that can help you lose weight and if you lose weight, that can improve your health. But what if your definition of healthy food includes nutrition, nutrient density and absence of artificial ingredients?

Let’s take a look at that very low calorie chicken wrap. Is it really healthier just because it’s got 1/3 the calories of a bacon cheeseburger?

Here’s the ingredients straight from McDonald’s website:

McDonald’s Grilled Chicken Breast Filet (wrap): Chicken breast filets with rib meat, water, seasoning (salt, sugar, food starch-modified, maltodextrin, spices, dextrose, autolyzed yeast extract, hydrolyzed [corn gluten, soy, wheat gluten] proteins, garlic powder, paprika, chicken fat, chicken broth, natural flavors (plant and animal source), caramel color, polysorbate 80, xanthan gum, onion powder, extractives of paprika), modified potato starch, and sodium phosphates. CONTAINS: SOY AND WHEAT. Prepared with Liquid Margarine: Liquid soybean oil, water, partially hydrogenated cottonseed and soybean oils, salt, hydrogenated cottonseed oil, soy lecithin, mono- and diglycerides, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate (preservative), artificial flavor, citric acid, vitamin A palmitate, beta carotene (color). (and don’t forget the 800 mg of sodium).

HOLY CRAP! Shouldn’t chicken breast be just one ingredient… chicken breast?

This is not food. It’s more like what author Michael Pollan would call an “edible food-like substance.”

What about the honey mustard sauce? The first ingredient after water is… SUGAR!

The flour tortilla ingredients? Enriched bleached wheat flour, also made with vegetable shortening (may contain one or more of the following: hydrogenated soybean oil, soybean oil, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, hydrogenated cottonseed oil with mono- and diglycerides added), contains 2% or less of the following: sugar, leavening (sodium aluminum sulfate, calcium sulfate, sodium phosphate, baking soda, corn starch, monocalcium phosphate), salt, wheat gluten, dough conditioners, sodium metabisulfite, distilled monoglycerides.

Trans fats? Sugar? Aluminum? Stuff you can’t pronounce and have to look up to find out it’s preservatives and disinfectants?

Don’t confuse the issues: weight loss and health…. Calories and nutrition. There IS a difference, and that is what makes “healthy” fast food a double edged sword at best.

Some people, like my brother, simply aren’t going to give up fast food completely. If I can get him to make better bad choices, that could help him control his weight. If that works, then I’m pleased that the fast food restaurants have such choices to offer.

But if you wanted to make a good choice – a healthy choice – you’d forget about “driving through” anywhere on a regular basis. You’d shop for whole, fresh, natural real food, keep a well-stocked kitchen… and learn how to cook.

The Subway diet, the Drive Through diet, or the Weight Watchers approved McDonalds menu (yes its true, what a pair that is!) Don’t kid yourself – this is not only not healthy, it’s not healthier – it’s lower calorie junk food.

“Welcome to our restaurant sir. Would you like a large plate of dog poo or a small plate of dog poo?”

“No thank you, I will take neither. No matter what the serving size, crap is still crap.”

Train hard and expect success!

Tom Venuto, author of
Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle

Founder & CEO of
Burn The Fat Inner Circle
About the Author:

Tom Venuto is the author of the #1 best seller, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle: Fat Burning Secrets of the World’s Best Bodybuilders and Fitness Models. Tom is a lifetime natural bodybuilder and fat loss expert who achieved an astonishing 3.7% body fat level without drugs or supplements. Discover how to increase your metabolism and burn stubborn body fat, find out which foods burn fat and which foods turn to fat, plus get a free fat loss report and mini course by visiting Tom’s site at: www.BurnTheFat.com

Simple and Healthy Chicken Pizza

ExerciseUpdate — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 05:51:12 +0000

healthy pizza is only one of the 197 healthy recipes available

Eating healthy does NOT mean bland and boring food. They say the proof is in the pudding. Well, I don’t have a recipe for pudding today, but how about one for pizza?!

Healthy and Simple Chicken Pizza Recipe

This mouthwatering “Healthy Chicken Pizza” is just ONE of the 197 Healthy and Delicious Recipes my partners over at Prograde Nutrition have compiled.

Nutrition Label Lies & Loopholes: Serving Size Sleight of Hand

Tom Venuto — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 03:56:42 +0000

By Tom Venuto
www.BurnTheFat.com

For years, concerned consumers and watchdog organizations have been screaming that the U.S. labeling laws are full of loopholes and in need of serious revision. After years of talk, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says they’re planning to so something about it. But will it be enough?

There are many food labeling issues we could complain about, but one of the biggest problems (due to its direct relationship to the obesity crisis) is serving sizes.

I’m not just talking about supersizing. What’s worse is that the actual calories are being disguised with serving size sleight of hand.

Let me show you some examples:

Tostitos touch of lime. Calories per serving: 150. Not too bad for tortilla chips, eh? Not so fast. Check that serving size: 1 ounce. That’s a whopping 6 chips. There are 10 servings per container. That’s 1500 calories in the bag.

Most guys could knock off half that bag for a cool 750 calories. Ok, suppose you have some restraint and you only eat a third of the bag (20 chips). You still get 500 calories. But who stops at 6 chips?

Vitamin Water. While I could rant about how sugar water is being marketed as health food, I’ll stick with the serving size sleight for now.

The label says there are 50 calories per serving. Wow, only 50 calories! Plus they add all those vitamins. Must be good for you and perfect for dieters, right? Think again. Look at the serving size and servings per container: 8 oz per serving and 2.5 servings per container.

Excuse me, but is there ANY reason for making it 2.5 servings other than to disguise the actual calorie content?

When you see that the entire bottle is 20 ounces, you realize that it contains 125 calories, not 50. Although 20 ounces is a large bottle, I don’t know many guys who wouldn’t chug that whole thing.

Sobe Lifewater? Same trick in their 20 oz bottles.

Healthy Choice soup, country vegetable. They make these in convenient little microwavable containers with a plastic lid. Just heat and eat.

It says 90 calories and 480 mg of sodium per serving. Wow, less than a hundred calories. Wait a minute though. Turn the container around and you see the serving size is 1 cup and the servings per container says “about 2.”

Huh? It looks pretty obvious to me that this microwave-ready container was designed for one person to eat in one sitting, so why not just put 180 calories per container on the label (and 960 mg of sodium). I guess 90 calories and 480 mg sodium sounds… well… like a healthier choice!

Ben and Jerrys chocolate fudge brownie ice cream.

This infamously delicious ice cream with its own facebook fan page has 270 calories per serving.

We all know ice cream is loaded with calories and should only be an occasional treat, but 270 calories per serving, that’s not too terrible is it?

Look a little closer at the label. The serving size is ½ a cup. Who eats a half a cup of ice cream? In fact, who hasn’t polished off a whole pint by themselves? (the “comment confessional” is below if you’d like to answer that)

According to Ben and Jerry, there are 4 servings in that one pint container. 270 calories times 4 servings = 1080 calories! That’s about half a days worth of calories for an average female.

I could go on and on – crackers, chocolate chip cookies, muffins, pasta, boxed cereals (who eats ¾ cup of cereal), etc. But I think you get the point.

What’s the solution to this mess? News reports in the last week say that the FDA may be cracking down. Count me among those who are pleased to hear this news. One of their ideas is to post nutritional information, including the calories, on the FRONT of the food labels.

The problem is, this move by itself could actually make matters worse. Suppose Tostitos started posting “150 calories per serving” right on the front of the bag. Most people would assume the chips were low in calories. Putting calorie info on the front of the label would help only if it clearly stated the amount of calories in the entire package or in a normal human-sized serving!

Ah, but the FDA says they’re on top of that too. They also want to standardize or re-define serving sizes. Sounds great, but there are critics who say that consumers would take it as approval to eat larger servings so the strategy would backfire.

Suppose for example, the government decides that no one eats ½ a cup of Ben and Jerry’s so they make the new serving size 1 cup, or half the pint-sized container. Now by law the label says 540 calories per serving instead of 270. Is that like getting official permission to eat twice as much?

I’m not against the FDA’s latest initiative, but what we really need is some honesty in labeling.

Food manufacturers should not be allowed to manipulate serving sizes in a way that would trick you into thinking there are fewer calories than there really are in a quantity that you’re likely to eat.

It would be nice to have calories for the entire package listed on the label at a glance. A new rating scale for caloric density would be cool too, if it could be easily interpreted. It would also be nice to have serving sizes chosen for quantities that are most likely to be commonly eaten. But standardization of serving sizes for all types of foods is difficult.

My friends from Europe tell me that food labels over there are listed in 100g portions, making comparisons easy. But when you consider how much each individual’s daily calorie needs can vary (easily 3-fold or more when you run the gamut from totally sedentary to elite athlete, not to mention male and female differences), standardization that applies to everyone may not be possible.

I think the recent laws such as requiring calories on restaurant menus are a positive move that will influence some people’s behavior. But no label changes by themselves will solve the obesity crisis. A real solution is going to have to include personal responsibility, nutrition education, self-discipline, hard work and lifestyle change.

Changes in the labeling laws won’t influence everybody because the people most likely to care about what labels say are those who have already made a commitment to change their lifestyles (and they’re least likely to eat processed and packaged foods – that have labels – in the first place). Actually, for those who care, all the info you need is already on the labels, you just have to do a little math and watch out for sneaky label tricks.

There’s one true solution to this portion distortion and label lies problem: Become CALORIE AWARE. Of course that includes educated label reading, but it goes much further. In my Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle system, here is how I define “calorie counting:”

1. Get a good calorie counter book, chart or electronic device/software and get to know the calorie counts of all the staple foods you eat on a daily basis. Look up the calorie values for foods you eat occasionally.

2. Always have a daily meal plan – on paper – with calories printed for each food, each meal and the day. Use that menu as a daily goal and target.

3. Educate yourself about average caloric needs for men and women and learn how to estimate your own calorie needs as closely as you can based on your activity, weight, body composition, height, gender and age.

4. Get a good kitchen food scale and use it.

Keep counting calories and doing nutrition by the numbers until you are unconsciously competent and eating the right quantities to easily maintain your ideal weight becomes second nature.

Obviously, saying that calories are all there is to nutrition is like saying that putting is all there is to golf. Calorie quality and quantity are both important. However, it’s a mistake to ignore the calorie quantity side of the game. Serving sizes matter and even healthy foods get stored as fat if you eat too much..

You can play “blindfolded archery” by guessing your calories and food portions if you want to. Hey, you might get lucky and guess right. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend depending on luck – or the government – for something as important as your body and your health. I would recommend the personal responsibility, nutrition education, self-discipline, hard work and lifestyle change…

Tom Venuto, author of
Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle

Founder & CEO of
Burn The Fat Inner Circle
About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models (e-book) which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.BurnTheFat.com or www.BurnTheFatInnerCircle.com

Energy Drinks May Add Sugar And Unnecessary Calories To Your Diet

ExerciseUpdate — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 03:22:28 +0000

“Energy drink” is the buzzword today. All around you, you can see ads depicting the kind of strength you immediately gain right after taking such an energy drink. There are even some that show a straw inside a cup of energy drink straightening out on its own!

After seeing these ads have you ever wondered what exactly these drinks are made of and how exactly they provide you with so much energy? In other words, how would you define an energy drink? Strangely enough, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not have a definition either.

some energy drinks contain lots of sugar and caffeine

The definition of the term energy drink is more or less left to the manufacturers of those drinks. By and large, manufacturers of these drinks claim that it ‘boosts’ your body strength. The fact is this depends on the ingredients used in making the drink. To begin with, caffeine and sugar are the major ingredients, and the main source of the ‘boost’ which you get is from the caffeine.

Herbs, minerals, vitamins and amino acids make up most of the other ingredients in many energy drinks. You might therefore ask if excessive caffeine and sugar are really good for your health. Actually, if you are an adult, it is okay for you to take caffeine in moderate doses per day, but that’s not quite how energy drinks work.

Some have up to 240 mg of caffeine, and this does not account for the doses naturally contained in the herbal ingredients of the drink. The sugar content of these drinks could be as much as 50 to 60 grams per can, which adds an extra 200 to 240 Calories to your diet.

If you’re health conscious, I don’t quite need to tell you what all this means, do I? If you overall goal is fat loss then you need to be careful that a high Calorie energy drink isn’t hindering your progress. Of course, that doesn’t mean you need to ban energy drinks from your life. Just like in everything else, moderation is the key.

A Healthy Way to Add Tuna to Your Diet

ExerciseUpdate — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:25:32 +0000

Most of the times when we think of tuna we think of mixing it with Calorie rich mayonnaise. Instead try this simple idea as a healthy alternative for enjoying your tuna.

Watch the Video

Larabar Makes a Healthy Snack with No Preservatives

ExerciseUpdate — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:39:18 +0000

Larabar makes a healthy snack for anyone on the go. They contains no preservatives and most bars have only a few simple ingredients. They come in tons of great and unusual flavors like, for instance, peanut butter and jelly. You can buy them online or in most grocery stores.

“Pure, Simple, and Delicious”, that is the Larabar philosophy

Book Review: The Omnivore’s Dilemma

Dillon Martin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:44:01 +0000

What a strange title. That’s what I thought when I first received this book as a gift, but after the first chapter I was hooked.

So what does the Omnivore’s Dilemma mean?

We, as in you and me, are omnivores and everyday we are faced with a plethora of food choices. Unlike the cow, which is meant to only eat grass, we can turn a wide variety of foods into fuel. Therein lies the problem. How do you decide which foods to eat and truthfully you might be eating the exact same food packaged in a different way. In the past we relied on culture and history to help make food choices, but in today’s fast paced world, especially in America, that culture is broken.

Get it at Barns & Nobel

The Omnivore’s Dilemma explores the complicated food choices in today’s modern world from a very unique perspective. The author, Michael Pollan, takes himself on a journey by selecting four different meals and tracing the ingredients of each meal back to their true source.

Through his journey he uncovers what ingredients make up the typical fast food meal. He explores the industrial organic meal compared to the small, private farm. Trust me you will be shocked at the sized of the organic food industry. Finally he experiences the joy and frustration of hunting and gathering his own meal from the forest.

I like this book because Michael does not preach at us to eat in a particular way or follow a particular diet. This book, rather, teaches us the true source of the foods we consume and leaves it up to us to decide what to put in our mouth. If you want to truly become more educated about nutrition then this book deserves your attention.

Be warned, however, after reading this book your eyes will be open. Ignorance can be bliss, but it may not be healthy. I look forward to reading more books by Michael Pollan.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma available at Barnes & Nobel

Check out other books by Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food an Eater’s Manifesto

About the Author:

Dillon Martin is a fitness professional and certified trainer with the National Strength and Conditioning Association. He graduated from Texas A&M University with a Bachelors Degree in Kinesiology. He created ExerciseUpdate in 2009 to give people quality information on workouts, nutrition, and motiavtion. He specializes in helping people train for and compete in endurance events such as 5K, 10K, Half-Marathons, Marathons, and Triathlons. You can find out more or contact him at www.dmfitness.com

A List of Unhealthy Foods

ExerciseUpdate — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 03:48:46 +0000

don't include this in your diet

In a recent post we gave you a list of healthy foods that you should stock in your fridge, freezer, and pantry.

Now take a look at this list of unhealthy foods. If you are eating any of these you may want to consider changing to a more healthy alternative.

The 100 Most Unhealthy Foods in the American Diet

My Top Food Recommendations to Build Muscle and Lose Body Fat

Dillon Martin — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:05:29 +0000

what's in your refrigerator?

Let’s face the fact that proper diet is about making the right food choices and for most of us we often make the wrong ones. I know people want to lose weight weight and build muscle and in order to do this we need to eat right. However eating right can mean different things to each individual and our choice of foods is often left up to our personal habits and discretion. I can tell you it is best to start with the basics and lay the foundation for a healthy diet so before you start thinking about counting calories and timing your meals correctly, the first thing you must do is make the right choice of foods.

What I want to give you is a list of healthy food choices. If you can focus on stocking your refrigerator and pantry with these foods then losing weight and building muscle will become a lot easier. Remember if we don’t have junk food around the house we can’t eat it. Hopefully this list will give you some good shopping ideas.

Alright, so let’s start with the fridge.

Each week, I try to make sure I’m loaded up with lots of varieties of fresh vegetables. Most of the time, I make sure I have plenty of vegetables like onions, zucchini, spinach, fresh mushrooms, red peppers, broccoli, etc. You can use these to mix with eggs in the morning or a salad at lunch. You can also mix in lean chicken or turkey sausage for extra protein. For cheese I prefer natural organic cheese when I can get it. If you are trying to find local fresh grown vegetables in your area you can search for local farm and farmers markets at LocalHarvest.org.

Coconut milk is another great, often overlooked food. You can mix it in with smoothies, oatmeal, or yogurt for a rich, creamy taste. Not only does coconut milk add a rich, creamy taste to lots of dishes, but it’s also full of healthy saturated fats. Yes, some saturated fats can be healthy! Healthy saturated fats like medium chain triglycerides, specifically an MCT called lauric acid.

Back to the fridge, some other staples:

Chopped walnuts, pecans, almonds – delicious and great sources of healthy fats.

Cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, and yogurt – I like to mix yogurt together with chopped nuts and berries for a great mid-morning or mid-afternoon meal.

Whole flax seeds or chia seeds – you can grind these in a mini coffee grinder and add to yogurt or salads. Always grind them fresh because the omega-3 polyunsaturated fats are highly unstable and prone to oxidation, creating high levels of free radicals in pre-ground flax.

Whole eggs – one of natures richest sources of nutrients (and remember, they increase your GOOD cholesterol so stop fearing them).

Salsa – I try to get creative and try some of the exotic varieties of salsas.

Avocados – love them…plus a great source of healthy fats, fiber, and other nutrients. Try adding them to wraps, salads, or sandwiches.

Butter – don’t believe the naysayers; butter adds great flavor to anything and can be part of a healthy diet (just keep the quantity small because it is calorie dense…and NEVER use margarine, unless you want to assure yourself a heart attack, butter unlike many margarines does not contain trans fatty acids).

Nut butters – in addition to plain ‘ol peanut butter you can get creative and try almond butter, sesame seed butter, cashew butter, or macadamia butter…they are all delicious and unbeatable nutrition! Just remember to buy all natural nut butters. There is no reason to add extra ingredients or hydrogenated oils. For example, in peanut butter you should find only peanuts and salt.

Leaf lettuce and spinach along with shredded carrots – for salads with dinner.

Home-made salad dressing – using balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and Udo’s Choice oil blend. This is much better than store bought salad dressing which mostly use highly refined soybean oil (full of inflammation-causing free radicals).

Whole grain wraps and whole grain bread (look for wraps and bread with at least 3-4 grams of fiber per 20 grams of total carbs).

Rice bran and wheat germ – these may sound way too healthy for some, but they actually add a nice little nutty, crunchy taste to yogurt or smoothies, or can be added when baking muffins or breads to add nutrients and fiber.

Some staples of the freezer:

Frozen berries – during the local growing season, I only get fresh berries, but during the other 10 months of the year, I always keep a supply of frozen blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, cherries, etc. to add to high fiber cereal, oatmeal, cottage cheese, yogurt, or smoothies. When buying frozen berries make sure there is no added sugar.

Frozen fish – I like to try a couple different kinds of fish each week. There are so many varieties out there, you never have to get bored.

Frozen chicken breasts – very convenient for a quick addition to wraps or chicken sandwiches for quick meals.

Grass-fed steaks, burgers, and ground beef – Grassfed meats have been shown to have as high as, or even higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids than salmon (without the mercury). Also, grass-fed meats have much higher levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) compared to typical grain-fed beef. US Wellness Meats allows you to order fresh grass fed beef and have it delivered straight to your door.

Frozen buffalo, ostrich, venison, and other “exotic” lean meats – Yeah, I know…I’m weird, but I can tell you that these are some of the healthiest meats around, and if you’re serious about a lean healthy body, these types of meats are much better for you than the mass produced, hormone-pumped beef and pork that’s sold at most grocery stores.

Frozen veggies – again, when the growing season is over and I can no longer get local fresh produce, frozen veggies are the best option, since they often have higher nutrient contents compared to the fresh produce that has been shipped thousands of miles, sitting around for weeks before making it to your dinner table.

Alright, now the staples in my cabinets:

Various antioxidant rich teas – green, oolong, white, rooibos are some of the best.

Whole wheat or whole grain spelt pasta – much higher fiber than normal pastas

Oat bran and steel cut oats – higher fiber than those little packs of instant oats.

Cans of coconut milk – to be transferred to a container in the fridge after opening.

Brown rice and other higher fiber rice – NEVER white rice

Tomato sauces – delicious, and as I’m sure you’ve heard a million times, they are a great source of lycopene. Just watch out for the brands that are loaded with nasty high fructose corn syrup.

Stevia – a natural non-caloric sweetener, which is an excellent alternative to the nasty chemical-laden artificial sweeteners like aspartame, saccharine, and sucralose.

Raw honey – better than processed honey… higher quantities of beneficial nutrients and enzymes. Honey has even been proven in studies to improve glucose metabolism (how you process carbs). I use a teaspoon or so every morning in my teas. Yes, it is pure sugar, but at least it has some nutritional benefits… and let’s be real, a teaspoon of healthier raw honey is only 5 grams of carbs… certainly nothing to worry about.

Organic maple syrup – none of that high fructose corn syrup Aunt Jemima crap…only real maple syrup can be considered real food. The only time I really use this (because of the high sugar load) is added to my post-workout smoothies to sweeten things up and also elicit an insulin surge to push nutrients into your muscles.

Organic unsweetened cocoa powder – I like to mix this into my smoothies for an extra jolt of antioxidants or make my own low-sugar hot cocoa by mixing cocoa powder into hot milk with stevia and a couple melted dark chocolate chunks.

Cans of black or kidney beans – I like to add a couple scoops to my Mexican wraps for the fiber and high nutrition content. Also, beans are surprisingly one of the best sources of youth promoting antioxidants!

Dark chocolate (as dark as possible) – This is one of my treats that satisfies my sweet tooth, plus provides loads of antioxidants at the same time. It’s still calorie dense, so I keep it to just a couple squares; but that is enough to do the trick, so I don’t feel like I need to go out and get cake and ice cream to satisfy my dessert urges.

Lastly, another thing that’s hard to go wrong with is a good variety of fresh fruits and berries. The staples such as bananas, apples, oranges, pears, peaches are good, but I like to also be a little more adventurous and include things like yellow (aka – mexican or champagne) mangoes, pomegranates, kumquats, papaya, star fruit, pineapples, and others. Also, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and cherries are some of the most nutrient and antioxidant-dense fruits you can eat.

Summary

Remember, if you don’t have junk around the house, you’re less likely to eat junk. If all you have is healthy food around the house, you’re forced to make smart choices. Basically, it all starts with making smart choices and avoiding temptations when you make your grocery store trip. If you are making the right food choices then you are laying the foundation for your body to properly lose weight and build muscle.

I hope you enjoyed this special look into some of my favorite foods and meals. Your tastes are probably quite different than mine, but hopefully this gave you some good ideas you can use next time you’re at the grocery store looking to stock up a healthy and delicious pile of groceries. If you have comments or suggestion to expand on this list I would love to hear them.

Also, you can check out The Truth about Six Pack Abs Training System, which introduces you to the entire comprehensive training and nutritional program that will turn your body into a lean, sexy specimen that others will envy!

About the Author: