I just cooked and ate this the other night, it was absolutely delicious and I highly recommend it!
Italian Lime Chicken
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast
1/8 cup lime juice (Lime juice lasts for a very long time if you keep it in your fridge, it's a great flavoring for a lot of dishes, as well as seltzer)
1/2 one ounce package dry Italian salad dressing mix (Tastes pretty good, works as a decent marinade and makes good italian dressing if you like italian dressing!)
1/8 cup butter, melted (1/4 stick)
1. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, however much you think you'll like (I had a decent amount, as it also washes off a bit in step two) and place it in a shallow baking dish (I used a pyrex dish we have)
2. Combine the lime juice, salad dressing mix, and melted butter and then pour over the chicken, covering it generously (a lot of this will go on the bottom of the dish, that's good, you want the chicken to cook in these juices)
3. Cover and back at 325 degrees for one hour (We did not have a cover for our baking dish so I simply used a basic cooking sheet, though aluminum foil would work too). Remove cover for last 15 minutes of cooking time.
This dish goes great with your vegetable of choice, I personally had a salad. Come back tomorrow for my first book review!
- BreadMan McGuire
January 17, 2008
January 16, 2008
Shoulds and Shouldn'ts
Part of the reason why most fad diets fail is that they are too limiting. Yes, calorie restriction will lead to weight loss. If you eat fewer calories than you are burning, then your body has to find those calories from other sources within you. That is what your fat is for. When you restrict the amount of calories you take in, you lose weight. However, calorie restriction diets are impossible to keep up, because they leave you feeling ravenous, constantly, and you end up crashing and binging on something horrible for you, erasing any progress you made. Calorie restriction diets also can't last forever, so when you eventually go back to eating whatever you think is normal, you gain all of that weight back.
A better idea is to bump up your metabolism so that you are burning more calories every day than you were previously, allowing you to eat a normal amount of food, and still lose weight. We are doing that by building up muscle, and eating more times per day.
When choosing what foods to eat, it's important to know what you're getting with each food. I've already talked about the ten basic foods you should always keep in your house, and the nutrients in each that make them a great food to have around. While I am never going to tell you that you cannot eat any one given thing, I am going to tell you that you shouldn't eat certain things. Keep in mind that this does not mean you can't eat these things. Once in a while is still okay for pretty much anything you can eat. You'll find that most of the things that aren't good for you are man-made products, found in processed food, so when buying food, try to stick to things that are whole foods, like something your great-grandmother would recognize as food.
The first weight loss enemy:
High-Fructose Corn Syrup
If you look at the label of a food product, and see that it has HFCS on the label, you probably shouldn't buy it. HFCS is man-made, and was invented in the 1970s. It's a sweetener, that is used in a lot of food for two reasons: it is both sweeter and cheaper than sugar. Before I even start telling you why HFCS isn't good for you, you can use your scientific brain to partially figure it out yourself. This man-made product didn't exist in the food chain until the 1970s. Evolution doesn't have a clue what this is, and neither does your body, making it very difficult to process. Go into your kitchen right now, and look at the labels on all of your food products. You will find an alarming number of things that have HFCS fairly high on the ingredients list. I did the same, and here are a few of the food products my roommates and I have on our shelves that contain HFCS, and how high it was on the ingredients list:
Chips Ahoy! Chocolate Chips - 5th
Kraft Italian Dressing - 3rd
Safeway brand Ketchup - 2nd
Fred Meyer brand Tartar Sauce - 4th
Hershey's Chocolate Syrup - 1st
Miracle Whip - 4th
Safeway brand Cran-Apple Juice Cocktail - 2nd
Ocean-Spray Cran-Raspberry Juice Cocktail - 2nd
Pepsi & Coke - 2nd
Gatorade - 2nd
Snapple - 2nd
As you can see, high-fructose corn syrup is pretty hard to avoid, so I'm not going to tell you to cut it out of your life completey. Obviously something like chololate syrup is a nice treat that is easy to keep around. If you're eating chocolate syrup constantly, that's a whole different problem. They key to all eating is moderation.
However, let me give you one more scientific reason you will want to avoid high-fructose corn syrup. This chemical is packed with calories, but your body doesn't recognize those calories. It is so foreign to your body that it actually shuts off your natural appetite controls, so you can eat tons of food, which you normally wouldn't be able to do. Chugging large amounts drinks and sodas containing HFCS wasn't possible before this chemical was invented. Your body's appetite controls would pop in and stop you from being able to eat any more.
Fructose is the reason why high-fructose corn syrup is so bad for you. Glucose, the most simple sugar, is usually processed by your body as immediately usable energy. Fructose, however, is immediately turned into fat. Normally you would get a small amount of fructose in your diet anyway from fruits and other natural sources of fructose, it's not enough to make you fat. HFCS is a carb that goes directly to your fat stores. This is because HFCS does not promote the production of insulin. Normally, when you eat other carbs, like glucose or starch, your body produces insulin, which is basically in charge of handling these carbs. It first takes it to your muscles for energy, and then stores it in fat. This action of storing the energy in your fat cells promotes the production of leptin, which regulates how much fat your body stores, and helps increase your metabolism when you need it. Fructose, however, doesn't cause your body to create insulin, so your body has no way of managing both the fructose, and your appetite.
High-fructose corn syrup is the biggest reason why you should cut soda out of your diet. No matter how much you love it, you have to come to terms with the fact that soda is slowly killing you. It makes you fatter, and raises your blood pressure. Soda also contains a large amount of acid, which can negatively affect your digestive system by creating heartburn, and even giving you acid reflux (this happened to me back when I was addicted to soda). Soda intake also increases your risk of getting cancer. Diet soda is a better option, if you have to have soda, but it too has problems. The artificial sweeteners that they use in diet soda instead of HFCS, usually aspartame, have been shown to cause cancer. So look at it this way: regular soda, makes you fat, and gives you cancer. Diet soda, gives you cancer. Either way, your odds of getting cancer are increased, so, if you feel you will die without your soda, you are much better off with diet soda. However, I urge you to try this experiment: for two weeks, instead of drinking soda, drink three great alternatives: water, fat-free milk, or %100 juice (not juice cocktail, check ingredients label for HFCS) mixed with seltzer water. I made the switch, and not only do I feel better (less heartburn) but I honestly don't miss it. When I'm craving soda, I sneak in a glass during my cheat meal of the week.
Due to the overwhelming presence of high-fructose corn syrup in our food supply, it can be pretty hard to avoid. However, there are usually healthier alternatives to products containing HFCS. Here are a few products that contain the evil chemical, and some great tasting alternatives:
Chips Ahoy! - Cookies are a hard food to find that don't contain harmful ingredients, but by checking the label you can do a pretty good job of hunting down the right kind for you.
Ketchup - There really isn't a replacement for ketchup, and few brands make it without HFCS, so just try limiting your ketchup intake
Frozen Yogurt - The supposedly healthier version of Ice Cream, is actually worse for you. Stick with the original.
Fruit-flavored yogurt - A lot of brands include HFCS in their fruit flavored yogurts, so either buy organic, or stick with plain.
Breakfast Cereals - News flash! Trix are bad for you. Stay away from highly sweetened cereals and choose low-sugar cereals or oatmeal.
Miracle Whip or Mayonnaise with HFCS - buy fat-free or light mayonnaise, and if you want the tang of miracle whip, stir in a small amount of dijon mustard.
Pancake Syrup - Always try to avoid processed foods, and stick to the real deal. Real maple syrup is much better for you than Ms. Butterworth's.
The second weight loss enemy:
Trans Fats
Another man-made chemical that didn't exist in the food chain until the 1950s, trans fats are bad for you in many, many ways. Your body has an extremely difficult time processing trans fats, and they can wreak havoc in there. This struggle has a couple of side effects. Your bad cholesterol goes up, your good cholesterol goes down, and it also increases lipoprotein in your blood, which increases your risk of heart disease.
Trans fats were created in response to the anti-saturated fat and anti-cholesterol craze that started sometime around the 1950s. Scientists knew that vegetable oil could be a good substitute for fat, however, it doesn't naturally stay solid at room temperature. They created a process called partial hydrogenation. This is a process which combines the vegetable oil with the hydrogen, making it a stable solid at room temperature. This chemical was so easy to keep around and use that it, like HFCS, permeated almost every food in our diet. Trans Fats are is so many foods that it is nearly impossible to completely elminate it from your diet, but there are a few things you can do to avoid it. When shopping at the grocery store, check the label. Some products will have trans fats on the label, some will not (trans fats were only ordered to be phased in on nutritional labels in 2003), but the ingredients will give it away. Look for hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. That means trans fats. Peanut butter will containt trace amounts that are mostly harmless, so don't get scared away from peanut butter. If you want to buy margarine instead of butter ( I choose to do this because it is easier to spread), buy trans fat free margarine, like Smart Balance Light. At restaurants, try to stick to dishes that are baked or grilled, not fried.
Those are the two problem ingredients you should try to avoid at all costs. Completely taking them out of your diet is next to impossible, but getting rid of most of them is very doable, and will only improve your health. Try out a few of these tips to stay healthy:
Instead of snacking on chips and crackers, keep some fruit around the house. An apple, on orange or two, a pear, or even some watermelon is a healthy snacking alternative. There are also many great vegetables that can work well as a snack, and still give you that satisfying crunch.
A single can of soda every day (12 oz.) amounts to 5 lbs of extra fat every year. That means your three cans of soda a day (one with every meal!) is giving you up to 15 lbs of extra fat on your body every year!
When at restaurants, try to avoid tempting sides of fries or onion rings. A salad to start with some vegetables for a side are great alternatives that will lower your calorie intake and keep you feeling fuller, longer.
In the morning, stick to protein-rich foods like eggs, or fiber-rich foods like oatmeal, and avoid sugary cereals or trans fat heavy frozen waffles.
%100 Natural Peanut Butter does NOT contain hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils - which means you have to refrigerate it, and stir it when you first get it (the vegetable oil becomes liquified), but it is much better for you.
Stay away from fast food. It's definitely okay from time to time, if you just don't have time to cook, but in general, it's a good idea to avoid fast food. Trans fats, HFCS, and worst of all, tons of calories are inhabiting your favorite fast food burger. Check out Eat This, Not That! at MensHealth.com, for a comparison of many fast food menu items, as well as chain restaurant menu items. You can usually find something decently healthy to eat at any fast food or chain restaurant, and the good choices are easily laid out in front of you on this website.
Tip of the Day
One pound of muscle burns up to 50 extra calories per day, just doing nothing. Expand that out to a week and you are burning 250 extra calories every week. Burn fat by building more muscle!
- Brendan McGuire
A better idea is to bump up your metabolism so that you are burning more calories every day than you were previously, allowing you to eat a normal amount of food, and still lose weight. We are doing that by building up muscle, and eating more times per day.
When choosing what foods to eat, it's important to know what you're getting with each food. I've already talked about the ten basic foods you should always keep in your house, and the nutrients in each that make them a great food to have around. While I am never going to tell you that you cannot eat any one given thing, I am going to tell you that you shouldn't eat certain things. Keep in mind that this does not mean you can't eat these things. Once in a while is still okay for pretty much anything you can eat. You'll find that most of the things that aren't good for you are man-made products, found in processed food, so when buying food, try to stick to things that are whole foods, like something your great-grandmother would recognize as food.
The first weight loss enemy:
High-Fructose Corn Syrup
If you look at the label of a food product, and see that it has HFCS on the label, you probably shouldn't buy it. HFCS is man-made, and was invented in the 1970s. It's a sweetener, that is used in a lot of food for two reasons: it is both sweeter and cheaper than sugar. Before I even start telling you why HFCS isn't good for you, you can use your scientific brain to partially figure it out yourself. This man-made product didn't exist in the food chain until the 1970s. Evolution doesn't have a clue what this is, and neither does your body, making it very difficult to process. Go into your kitchen right now, and look at the labels on all of your food products. You will find an alarming number of things that have HFCS fairly high on the ingredients list. I did the same, and here are a few of the food products my roommates and I have on our shelves that contain HFCS, and how high it was on the ingredients list:
Chips Ahoy! Chocolate Chips - 5th
Kraft Italian Dressing - 3rd
Safeway brand Ketchup - 2nd
Fred Meyer brand Tartar Sauce - 4th
Hershey's Chocolate Syrup - 1st
Miracle Whip - 4th
Safeway brand Cran-Apple Juice Cocktail - 2nd
Ocean-Spray Cran-Raspberry Juice Cocktail - 2nd
Pepsi & Coke - 2nd
Gatorade - 2nd
Snapple - 2nd
As you can see, high-fructose corn syrup is pretty hard to avoid, so I'm not going to tell you to cut it out of your life completey. Obviously something like chololate syrup is a nice treat that is easy to keep around. If you're eating chocolate syrup constantly, that's a whole different problem. They key to all eating is moderation.
However, let me give you one more scientific reason you will want to avoid high-fructose corn syrup. This chemical is packed with calories, but your body doesn't recognize those calories. It is so foreign to your body that it actually shuts off your natural appetite controls, so you can eat tons of food, which you normally wouldn't be able to do. Chugging large amounts drinks and sodas containing HFCS wasn't possible before this chemical was invented. Your body's appetite controls would pop in and stop you from being able to eat any more.
Fructose is the reason why high-fructose corn syrup is so bad for you. Glucose, the most simple sugar, is usually processed by your body as immediately usable energy. Fructose, however, is immediately turned into fat. Normally you would get a small amount of fructose in your diet anyway from fruits and other natural sources of fructose, it's not enough to make you fat. HFCS is a carb that goes directly to your fat stores. This is because HFCS does not promote the production of insulin. Normally, when you eat other carbs, like glucose or starch, your body produces insulin, which is basically in charge of handling these carbs. It first takes it to your muscles for energy, and then stores it in fat. This action of storing the energy in your fat cells promotes the production of leptin, which regulates how much fat your body stores, and helps increase your metabolism when you need it. Fructose, however, doesn't cause your body to create insulin, so your body has no way of managing both the fructose, and your appetite.
High-fructose corn syrup is the biggest reason why you should cut soda out of your diet. No matter how much you love it, you have to come to terms with the fact that soda is slowly killing you. It makes you fatter, and raises your blood pressure. Soda also contains a large amount of acid, which can negatively affect your digestive system by creating heartburn, and even giving you acid reflux (this happened to me back when I was addicted to soda). Soda intake also increases your risk of getting cancer. Diet soda is a better option, if you have to have soda, but it too has problems. The artificial sweeteners that they use in diet soda instead of HFCS, usually aspartame, have been shown to cause cancer. So look at it this way: regular soda, makes you fat, and gives you cancer. Diet soda, gives you cancer. Either way, your odds of getting cancer are increased, so, if you feel you will die without your soda, you are much better off with diet soda. However, I urge you to try this experiment: for two weeks, instead of drinking soda, drink three great alternatives: water, fat-free milk, or %100 juice (not juice cocktail, check ingredients label for HFCS) mixed with seltzer water. I made the switch, and not only do I feel better (less heartburn) but I honestly don't miss it. When I'm craving soda, I sneak in a glass during my cheat meal of the week.
Due to the overwhelming presence of high-fructose corn syrup in our food supply, it can be pretty hard to avoid. However, there are usually healthier alternatives to products containing HFCS. Here are a few products that contain the evil chemical, and some great tasting alternatives:
Chips Ahoy! - Cookies are a hard food to find that don't contain harmful ingredients, but by checking the label you can do a pretty good job of hunting down the right kind for you.
Ketchup - There really isn't a replacement for ketchup, and few brands make it without HFCS, so just try limiting your ketchup intake
Frozen Yogurt - The supposedly healthier version of Ice Cream, is actually worse for you. Stick with the original.
Fruit-flavored yogurt - A lot of brands include HFCS in their fruit flavored yogurts, so either buy organic, or stick with plain.
Breakfast Cereals - News flash! Trix are bad for you. Stay away from highly sweetened cereals and choose low-sugar cereals or oatmeal.
Miracle Whip or Mayonnaise with HFCS - buy fat-free or light mayonnaise, and if you want the tang of miracle whip, stir in a small amount of dijon mustard.
Pancake Syrup - Always try to avoid processed foods, and stick to the real deal. Real maple syrup is much better for you than Ms. Butterworth's.
The second weight loss enemy:
Trans Fats
Another man-made chemical that didn't exist in the food chain until the 1950s, trans fats are bad for you in many, many ways. Your body has an extremely difficult time processing trans fats, and they can wreak havoc in there. This struggle has a couple of side effects. Your bad cholesterol goes up, your good cholesterol goes down, and it also increases lipoprotein in your blood, which increases your risk of heart disease.
Trans fats were created in response to the anti-saturated fat and anti-cholesterol craze that started sometime around the 1950s. Scientists knew that vegetable oil could be a good substitute for fat, however, it doesn't naturally stay solid at room temperature. They created a process called partial hydrogenation. This is a process which combines the vegetable oil with the hydrogen, making it a stable solid at room temperature. This chemical was so easy to keep around and use that it, like HFCS, permeated almost every food in our diet. Trans Fats are is so many foods that it is nearly impossible to completely elminate it from your diet, but there are a few things you can do to avoid it. When shopping at the grocery store, check the label. Some products will have trans fats on the label, some will not (trans fats were only ordered to be phased in on nutritional labels in 2003), but the ingredients will give it away. Look for hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. That means trans fats. Peanut butter will containt trace amounts that are mostly harmless, so don't get scared away from peanut butter. If you want to buy margarine instead of butter ( I choose to do this because it is easier to spread), buy trans fat free margarine, like Smart Balance Light. At restaurants, try to stick to dishes that are baked or grilled, not fried.
Those are the two problem ingredients you should try to avoid at all costs. Completely taking them out of your diet is next to impossible, but getting rid of most of them is very doable, and will only improve your health. Try out a few of these tips to stay healthy:
Instead of snacking on chips and crackers, keep some fruit around the house. An apple, on orange or two, a pear, or even some watermelon is a healthy snacking alternative. There are also many great vegetables that can work well as a snack, and still give you that satisfying crunch.
A single can of soda every day (12 oz.) amounts to 5 lbs of extra fat every year. That means your three cans of soda a day (one with every meal!) is giving you up to 15 lbs of extra fat on your body every year!
When at restaurants, try to avoid tempting sides of fries or onion rings. A salad to start with some vegetables for a side are great alternatives that will lower your calorie intake and keep you feeling fuller, longer.
In the morning, stick to protein-rich foods like eggs, or fiber-rich foods like oatmeal, and avoid sugary cereals or trans fat heavy frozen waffles.
%100 Natural Peanut Butter does NOT contain hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils - which means you have to refrigerate it, and stir it when you first get it (the vegetable oil becomes liquified), but it is much better for you.
Stay away from fast food. It's definitely okay from time to time, if you just don't have time to cook, but in general, it's a good idea to avoid fast food. Trans fats, HFCS, and worst of all, tons of calories are inhabiting your favorite fast food burger. Check out Eat This, Not That! at MensHealth.com, for a comparison of many fast food menu items, as well as chain restaurant menu items. You can usually find something decently healthy to eat at any fast food or chain restaurant, and the good choices are easily laid out in front of you on this website.
Tip of the Day
One pound of muscle burns up to 50 extra calories per day, just doing nothing. Expand that out to a week and you are burning 250 extra calories every week. Burn fat by building more muscle!
- Brendan McGuire
January 15, 2008
Recipe of the Day
This will be the first of many Recipes for One!
Chicken Parmesan
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast (meat can be frozen almost indefinitely so buying a larger pack of chicken breasts and using only one is a-okay)
1/2 cup biscuit mix (bisquick will do! this stuff also lasts a very long time and is easy to keep around the house)
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese (parmesan lasts a fairly long time refrigerated, but not too long, so add it to your meals! it tastes great with anything tomato-ey)
1/3 stick of butter, melted
1. In a shallow bowl, combine biscuit mix and parmesan cheese.
2. Dip chicken in butter, and then biscuit-cheese mixture. Cover as evenly as possible. The butter makes the biscuit-cheese mixture stick to the meat.
3. Place chicken in a larg, buttered baking dish and bake uncovered at 325 degrees for 1 hour or until light brown. You can also use a paper towl with olive oil on it to grease the dish.
This dish tastes great, I just had it the other night, and it goes especially well with a salad, some cooked vegetables, or your favorite fruit!
- BreadMan McGuire
Chicken Parmesan
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast (meat can be frozen almost indefinitely so buying a larger pack of chicken breasts and using only one is a-okay)
1/2 cup biscuit mix (bisquick will do! this stuff also lasts a very long time and is easy to keep around the house)
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese (parmesan lasts a fairly long time refrigerated, but not too long, so add it to your meals! it tastes great with anything tomato-ey)
1/3 stick of butter, melted
1. In a shallow bowl, combine biscuit mix and parmesan cheese.
2. Dip chicken in butter, and then biscuit-cheese mixture. Cover as evenly as possible. The butter makes the biscuit-cheese mixture stick to the meat.
3. Place chicken in a larg, buttered baking dish and bake uncovered at 325 degrees for 1 hour or until light brown. You can also use a paper towl with olive oil on it to grease the dish.
This dish tastes great, I just had it the other night, and it goes especially well with a salad, some cooked vegetables, or your favorite fruit!
- BreadMan McGuire
January 14, 2008
Diet
I think it's important that we talk about the word Diet.
Most people think that diet means a limited way of eating, like the no-carb diet, or the all-grapefruit diet. When we use the word diet, it's not helpful to think of it that way. Instead, I want you to start thinking of the word diet a different way. Diet simply means what you eat. So, if right now, you primarily eat hot dogs and french fries, that is your diet. If you eat everything from every corner of the world, that is your diet. Your diet can change, to whatever you want it to, and all it means is whatever you tend to eat at the moment.
That being said, I want to talk to you today about my diet. I want to tell you what I am doing in order to become a healthier person, who doesn't waste food, and doesn't get repetitive. As I've said before, I like to mix things up!
My Diet
Most people eat the usual three square meals a day. I am telling you now that, no matter what you've heard, that's not the way it should be. When you eat your regular three squares a day, it causes spikes in your blood sugar. When your blood sugar goes up rapidly, the hormone insulin starts taking all of that sugar and storing it directly into your fat cells. What can we do about this?
I eat six meals a day. That's right, I eat six times a day. Studies have shown that by eating six meals a day (three regular meals and three major snacks), you are more likely to lose fat and build muscle. You can still lose weight on a regular three meal diet, however, more of that weight is likely to be more muscle. This is a pretty hard adjustment to make, and it wasn't easy for me. Sometimes I just flat out do not have the time to work in a snack. I also had trouble forcing myself to eat when I wasn't as hungry as I used to be when I would eat. However, my metabolism has adjusted to my new eating schedule, and I feel a lot better about it now. There are a lot of reasons why you will want to eat six meals a day, and I will be touching on all of them in the future.
Breakfast
Breakfast is an extremely important meal. It's basically a jumpstart in the morning for your metabolism. It lets your body know that it's time to start burning fat. Studies have shown that men who don't eat in the morning are 4.5 times more likely to be obese than those who eat breakfast every AM. During one such study, men who missed breakfast just one time increased their obesity risk by 34 percent. Another study showed that eating breakfast caused metabolism to go up as much as 10 percent! So eat breakfast! It's a great way to start your day with a lot of energy, and it will only lose weight and tone up in the long run.
I like to start my day off with a healthy sized bowl of oatmeal, topped with flaxseed powder, and a few berries mixed in for sweetness. You should only use the unsweetened, unflavored oatmeal, as the flavored kinds tend to have tons of sugar calories. Oatmeal is a great breakfast food for two reasons. Oatmeal has been shown to maintain your blood sugar levels longer than a lot of other foods, which means you get more of your insulin building muscle, instead of building fat, and also means you have more energy throughout your day. Oatmeal is also chock full of soluble fiber. You want to eat a lot of fiber, both soluble and insoluble. The reason for this is twofold. Fiber keeps you feeling fuller, longer, because it breaks down slowly in the stomach. Fiber also fights high cholesterol. Scientists believe this is because fiber binds with cholesterol based digestive acids and and these acids travel out of your body with the fiber, causing the body to pull more cholesterol from the blood to be used as digestive acids. Doctors recommend 25 to 35 grams of fiber per day.
By topping my oatmeal off with flaxseed I am not only getting a good dose of omega 3s, it gives the oatmeal a nice nutty flavor, making it a little less bland. I get even more flavor from the berries I add, and depending on the kind of berry, I get different benefits. Blueberries add more fiber to the meal, while raspberries add powerful antioxidants that fight heart disease and cancer. I cook my oatmeal with fat-free milk, which gives me a healthy dose of milk in the morning to start my day off right, with lots of vitamin C and calcium, as well as vitamin D.
I personally like to drink liquids while I eat, so I accompany my oatmeal with a glass of one part %100 juice cran-raspberry and one part seltzer. You can use whatever juice you want for this, but try to stick to something that is %100 juice, and not a juice cocktail. I prefer to use cranberry juice or some variation thereof because cranberries have extremely powerful antioxidants that have been shown to fight cancer. Adding the seltzer means I am getting fewer calories than if I were just drinking the juice, and it makes the juice taste kinda like soda!
I also previously mentioned the importance of taking a daily vitamin, and I pop those in the morning with my breakfast.
Mid-Morning Snack
I usually start to get hungry again around two or three hours after I've eaten breakfast (so when I eat breakfast at 8 AM, which I usually do, I tend to be hungry again around 10 or 11), so I like to tide my hunger over with a nutritious snack. Snacks are the easiest part of my day, because they can be almost anything, and I can usually find a snack from long-lasting food items I keep around the house. A snack can be a smoothie (a lot of different kinds of smoothies can be made from the majority of the ingredients I listed yesterday, that you should always have around the house). This page on the Men's Health website has a lot of great, tasty, easy to make smoothie recipes. All you'll need is a blender. My personal favorite snack is extremely easy to make. I take a bowl, throw two handfuls of almonds in it, spoon some plain yogurt on top of the almonds, and sprinkle a few raspberries or blueberries in, and eat the whole mess with a spoon. It tastes great and fills you perfectly.
Other good snacks include fruits and vegetableslike apples, oranges, melons, or some of your favorite vegetalbe, carbs like 1-2 slices of whole-grain toast topped with some kind of jam (black currant jam is packed full of powerful antioxidants that are great for you), protein like a few slices of low-sodium cold cuts, some peanut butter (alone or on top of celery or your favorite vegetable), dairy like a glass of milk with protein powder mixed in, a stick of string cheese, or even about 3/4 cup of low-fat ice cream. On workout days, I like to go with the glass of milk with protein powder mixed in, as studies have shown that taking in protein before exercising increases the amount of muscle you are capable of building while working out.
Lunch
Lunch is my favorite meal of the day. Most of the foods I like tend to be lunch foods. However, it can be really easy to overdo it at lunchtime, and eat too much. Eating too much causes a blood sugar spike, and can tire you out, instead of giving you the energy you need for the rest of the day.
Lunch can be difficult for the bachelor, as many of us are not at home for lunch. I like to make my lunch in the morning after eating breakfast, and bring it with me wherever I need to be. By making my lunch after eating breakfast, I'm not hungry, so I tend to include less food than if I made the lunch right before eating it. I tend to be at a good point for lunch between 12 and 1 PM. My current class schedule works out so that on tuesdays and thursdays I have a perfect time period after my mid-morning snack but before lunch to work out, and eating a meal after working out repelenishes your energy stores, and gives your body the essential vitamins and nutrients it needs to build muscle and burn fat.
Lunch is the best time of day for my favorite meal: the sandwich. Sandwiches are amazing, because they can be so versatile. As long as you're making your sandwich out of wholesome, healthy ingredients, it's pretty much a safe bet. I like to eat turkey sandwiches on whole-wheat bread, with a light layer of fat-free mayonnaise, and a slice or two of swiss cheese. Pick your favorite low-sodium cold cut, your favorite fat-free or low-sodium condiments, some lettuce, and some cheese, and you've got yourself a great sandwich. I like to accompany my sandwiches with a variety of different side snacks. If I'm at home, I eat it with a salad. Eating a salad before a meal, or with a meal, has been shown to fill people up and have them eat fewer calories overall, while still feeling just as satisfied. If I'm away from home, I like to take a yogurt cup and a plastic spoon, or some almonds and berries. A couple of good alternatives to the sandwich include a hearty salad topped with grilled chicken, a three-bean salad, heart-healthy lean meat sloppy joes, some grilled fish, or chili.
Water
Anytime during the day that I'm feeling hungry, but I don't think it's a good time to eat yet, I drink a full glass of water, sometimes two. According to some studies, a large number of Americans often confuse thirst for hunger. I personally did not used to drink a lot of water, and I recognize this in myself. Most of the time when I'm feeling slightly hungry, and I drink some water, my hunger goes away. The amount of water each person needs per day varies from man to man, so I'm not going to tell you to get a certain amount of water per day. Instead, try swapping out your soda for water, and try drinking water when you're hungry but aren't ready to eat. It's made a tremendous difference in my life.
Mid-Afternoon Snack
The mid-afternoon snack is very similar to the mid-morning snack, although I tend to lean towards fruit, as the fructose in the fruit gives me that extra kick I need to finish out my day. An apple or two gives you a good amount of calories and nutrients to carry you until dinner.
Dinner
In my opinion, dinner is the enemy of the bachelor lifestyle. If it's one thing bachelors lack, it's time. Most bachelors don't have time to cook. Besides the lack of time, most dinner recipes call for ingredients for 4-6, and sometimes even 6-8 servings. Dinner is the meal I have the most trouble with.
I hate to cook. I think it's boring, and I'm so afraid of screwing everything up, that I usually end up freaking out and screwing it up anyway. Most recipes have steps that seem simple, but when laid out in front of you, can be daunting and difficult. I once tried to make meatballs, and let me tell you... that did not end well. I ended up making very sloppy joes. The recipe seemed simple enough, but it called for me to do things that simply were not within my capacity to properly do. If you don't know how to cook, following a simple recipe can be very difficult.
I have good nutritious advice for dinner, but I don't yet have a good way to work this meal properly into the bachelor lifestyle. One way I plan on changing this is to write my own recipes, with servings of one (so no pesky leftovers), and detailed instructions so that it's harder to screw things up. Another problem the regular bachelor can run into is the matter of how many dishes cooking can create. I will attempt to write recipes that minimize the number of dishes you use, so you spend more time eating, and less time cleaning.
For dinner, if you've stuck to the six meals a day plan so far, you should be hungry, but not ravenous. You want to cook meals that are full of lean meats, vegetables, and a good carb or two. I like to cook different chicken dishes, as I find chicken to be pretty easy to prepare, and mix those up with some salad, or beans. Baby brocolli, or brocollini as it is sometimes called, is great to include with dinner, as it packs a huge punch of vitamins and minerals, and it tastes great raw, or slightly cooked. Be careful not to overcook brocolli, as you will end up getting rid of a large portion of the vitamins in the cooking process. Another great vegetable that can be easy to cook and store (in the freezer) are beans of different kinds. Green beans, peas, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, and lima beans are all great tasting vegetables to include in your dinner.
Post-Dinner Snack
You don't want to go to bed hungry, because it can become difficult to fall asleep. Eat a snack about 2 to 2 and 1/2 hours before going to bed, to keep yourself satiated without stuffing yourself. If you planned your meals right, this snack should land roughly 2 to 3 hours after dinner. I like to eat an apple before bed, as it's not very much food, and it keeps me feeling full until I'm sound asleep. If I'm not in the mood for fruit (or if I don't have any around), I eat a handful of peanuts or two. I always like to accompany this snack with a glass of water, as studies have shown that drinking water with any meal can keep you less hungry for longer.
Changing your habits to eat six meals a day is not easy. Even now, I struggle to stay on the schedule. However, I can feel myself adjusting, day by day, and I feel better for it. I eat more food overall, but in smaller portions, and more healthily. My metabolism is getting better and better, and as that happens, I burn more fat, and build more muscle every day. I urge you to try the same.
Tip of the Day
Tomatoes are a great source of lycopene, a powerful antioxidant that fights cancer. Studies have shown that 30 milligrams of lycopene a day is a good amount to have in your diet. A single serving of marinara sauce can contain that much and more! Find a way to work tomatoes or tomato products into your every day lifestyle.
- BreadMan McGuire
Most people think that diet means a limited way of eating, like the no-carb diet, or the all-grapefruit diet. When we use the word diet, it's not helpful to think of it that way. Instead, I want you to start thinking of the word diet a different way. Diet simply means what you eat. So, if right now, you primarily eat hot dogs and french fries, that is your diet. If you eat everything from every corner of the world, that is your diet. Your diet can change, to whatever you want it to, and all it means is whatever you tend to eat at the moment.
That being said, I want to talk to you today about my diet. I want to tell you what I am doing in order to become a healthier person, who doesn't waste food, and doesn't get repetitive. As I've said before, I like to mix things up!
My Diet
Most people eat the usual three square meals a day. I am telling you now that, no matter what you've heard, that's not the way it should be. When you eat your regular three squares a day, it causes spikes in your blood sugar. When your blood sugar goes up rapidly, the hormone insulin starts taking all of that sugar and storing it directly into your fat cells. What can we do about this?
I eat six meals a day. That's right, I eat six times a day. Studies have shown that by eating six meals a day (three regular meals and three major snacks), you are more likely to lose fat and build muscle. You can still lose weight on a regular three meal diet, however, more of that weight is likely to be more muscle. This is a pretty hard adjustment to make, and it wasn't easy for me. Sometimes I just flat out do not have the time to work in a snack. I also had trouble forcing myself to eat when I wasn't as hungry as I used to be when I would eat. However, my metabolism has adjusted to my new eating schedule, and I feel a lot better about it now. There are a lot of reasons why you will want to eat six meals a day, and I will be touching on all of them in the future.
Breakfast
Breakfast is an extremely important meal. It's basically a jumpstart in the morning for your metabolism. It lets your body know that it's time to start burning fat. Studies have shown that men who don't eat in the morning are 4.5 times more likely to be obese than those who eat breakfast every AM. During one such study, men who missed breakfast just one time increased their obesity risk by 34 percent. Another study showed that eating breakfast caused metabolism to go up as much as 10 percent! So eat breakfast! It's a great way to start your day with a lot of energy, and it will only lose weight and tone up in the long run.
I like to start my day off with a healthy sized bowl of oatmeal, topped with flaxseed powder, and a few berries mixed in for sweetness. You should only use the unsweetened, unflavored oatmeal, as the flavored kinds tend to have tons of sugar calories. Oatmeal is a great breakfast food for two reasons. Oatmeal has been shown to maintain your blood sugar levels longer than a lot of other foods, which means you get more of your insulin building muscle, instead of building fat, and also means you have more energy throughout your day. Oatmeal is also chock full of soluble fiber. You want to eat a lot of fiber, both soluble and insoluble. The reason for this is twofold. Fiber keeps you feeling fuller, longer, because it breaks down slowly in the stomach. Fiber also fights high cholesterol. Scientists believe this is because fiber binds with cholesterol based digestive acids and and these acids travel out of your body with the fiber, causing the body to pull more cholesterol from the blood to be used as digestive acids. Doctors recommend 25 to 35 grams of fiber per day.
By topping my oatmeal off with flaxseed I am not only getting a good dose of omega 3s, it gives the oatmeal a nice nutty flavor, making it a little less bland. I get even more flavor from the berries I add, and depending on the kind of berry, I get different benefits. Blueberries add more fiber to the meal, while raspberries add powerful antioxidants that fight heart disease and cancer. I cook my oatmeal with fat-free milk, which gives me a healthy dose of milk in the morning to start my day off right, with lots of vitamin C and calcium, as well as vitamin D.
I personally like to drink liquids while I eat, so I accompany my oatmeal with a glass of one part %100 juice cran-raspberry and one part seltzer. You can use whatever juice you want for this, but try to stick to something that is %100 juice, and not a juice cocktail. I prefer to use cranberry juice or some variation thereof because cranberries have extremely powerful antioxidants that have been shown to fight cancer. Adding the seltzer means I am getting fewer calories than if I were just drinking the juice, and it makes the juice taste kinda like soda!
I also previously mentioned the importance of taking a daily vitamin, and I pop those in the morning with my breakfast.
Mid-Morning Snack
I usually start to get hungry again around two or three hours after I've eaten breakfast (so when I eat breakfast at 8 AM, which I usually do, I tend to be hungry again around 10 or 11), so I like to tide my hunger over with a nutritious snack. Snacks are the easiest part of my day, because they can be almost anything, and I can usually find a snack from long-lasting food items I keep around the house. A snack can be a smoothie (a lot of different kinds of smoothies can be made from the majority of the ingredients I listed yesterday, that you should always have around the house). This page on the Men's Health website has a lot of great, tasty, easy to make smoothie recipes. All you'll need is a blender. My personal favorite snack is extremely easy to make. I take a bowl, throw two handfuls of almonds in it, spoon some plain yogurt on top of the almonds, and sprinkle a few raspberries or blueberries in, and eat the whole mess with a spoon. It tastes great and fills you perfectly.
Other good snacks include fruits and vegetableslike apples, oranges, melons, or some of your favorite vegetalbe, carbs like 1-2 slices of whole-grain toast topped with some kind of jam (black currant jam is packed full of powerful antioxidants that are great for you), protein like a few slices of low-sodium cold cuts, some peanut butter (alone or on top of celery or your favorite vegetable), dairy like a glass of milk with protein powder mixed in, a stick of string cheese, or even about 3/4 cup of low-fat ice cream. On workout days, I like to go with the glass of milk with protein powder mixed in, as studies have shown that taking in protein before exercising increases the amount of muscle you are capable of building while working out.
Lunch
Lunch is my favorite meal of the day. Most of the foods I like tend to be lunch foods. However, it can be really easy to overdo it at lunchtime, and eat too much. Eating too much causes a blood sugar spike, and can tire you out, instead of giving you the energy you need for the rest of the day.
Lunch can be difficult for the bachelor, as many of us are not at home for lunch. I like to make my lunch in the morning after eating breakfast, and bring it with me wherever I need to be. By making my lunch after eating breakfast, I'm not hungry, so I tend to include less food than if I made the lunch right before eating it. I tend to be at a good point for lunch between 12 and 1 PM. My current class schedule works out so that on tuesdays and thursdays I have a perfect time period after my mid-morning snack but before lunch to work out, and eating a meal after working out repelenishes your energy stores, and gives your body the essential vitamins and nutrients it needs to build muscle and burn fat.
Lunch is the best time of day for my favorite meal: the sandwich. Sandwiches are amazing, because they can be so versatile. As long as you're making your sandwich out of wholesome, healthy ingredients, it's pretty much a safe bet. I like to eat turkey sandwiches on whole-wheat bread, with a light layer of fat-free mayonnaise, and a slice or two of swiss cheese. Pick your favorite low-sodium cold cut, your favorite fat-free or low-sodium condiments, some lettuce, and some cheese, and you've got yourself a great sandwich. I like to accompany my sandwiches with a variety of different side snacks. If I'm at home, I eat it with a salad. Eating a salad before a meal, or with a meal, has been shown to fill people up and have them eat fewer calories overall, while still feeling just as satisfied. If I'm away from home, I like to take a yogurt cup and a plastic spoon, or some almonds and berries. A couple of good alternatives to the sandwich include a hearty salad topped with grilled chicken, a three-bean salad, heart-healthy lean meat sloppy joes, some grilled fish, or chili.
Water
Anytime during the day that I'm feeling hungry, but I don't think it's a good time to eat yet, I drink a full glass of water, sometimes two. According to some studies, a large number of Americans often confuse thirst for hunger. I personally did not used to drink a lot of water, and I recognize this in myself. Most of the time when I'm feeling slightly hungry, and I drink some water, my hunger goes away. The amount of water each person needs per day varies from man to man, so I'm not going to tell you to get a certain amount of water per day. Instead, try swapping out your soda for water, and try drinking water when you're hungry but aren't ready to eat. It's made a tremendous difference in my life.
Mid-Afternoon Snack
The mid-afternoon snack is very similar to the mid-morning snack, although I tend to lean towards fruit, as the fructose in the fruit gives me that extra kick I need to finish out my day. An apple or two gives you a good amount of calories and nutrients to carry you until dinner.
Dinner
In my opinion, dinner is the enemy of the bachelor lifestyle. If it's one thing bachelors lack, it's time. Most bachelors don't have time to cook. Besides the lack of time, most dinner recipes call for ingredients for 4-6, and sometimes even 6-8 servings. Dinner is the meal I have the most trouble with.
I hate to cook. I think it's boring, and I'm so afraid of screwing everything up, that I usually end up freaking out and screwing it up anyway. Most recipes have steps that seem simple, but when laid out in front of you, can be daunting and difficult. I once tried to make meatballs, and let me tell you... that did not end well. I ended up making very sloppy joes. The recipe seemed simple enough, but it called for me to do things that simply were not within my capacity to properly do. If you don't know how to cook, following a simple recipe can be very difficult.
I have good nutritious advice for dinner, but I don't yet have a good way to work this meal properly into the bachelor lifestyle. One way I plan on changing this is to write my own recipes, with servings of one (so no pesky leftovers), and detailed instructions so that it's harder to screw things up. Another problem the regular bachelor can run into is the matter of how many dishes cooking can create. I will attempt to write recipes that minimize the number of dishes you use, so you spend more time eating, and less time cleaning.
For dinner, if you've stuck to the six meals a day plan so far, you should be hungry, but not ravenous. You want to cook meals that are full of lean meats, vegetables, and a good carb or two. I like to cook different chicken dishes, as I find chicken to be pretty easy to prepare, and mix those up with some salad, or beans. Baby brocolli, or brocollini as it is sometimes called, is great to include with dinner, as it packs a huge punch of vitamins and minerals, and it tastes great raw, or slightly cooked. Be careful not to overcook brocolli, as you will end up getting rid of a large portion of the vitamins in the cooking process. Another great vegetable that can be easy to cook and store (in the freezer) are beans of different kinds. Green beans, peas, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, and lima beans are all great tasting vegetables to include in your dinner.
Post-Dinner Snack
You don't want to go to bed hungry, because it can become difficult to fall asleep. Eat a snack about 2 to 2 and 1/2 hours before going to bed, to keep yourself satiated without stuffing yourself. If you planned your meals right, this snack should land roughly 2 to 3 hours after dinner. I like to eat an apple before bed, as it's not very much food, and it keeps me feeling full until I'm sound asleep. If I'm not in the mood for fruit (or if I don't have any around), I eat a handful of peanuts or two. I always like to accompany this snack with a glass of water, as studies have shown that drinking water with any meal can keep you less hungry for longer.
Changing your habits to eat six meals a day is not easy. Even now, I struggle to stay on the schedule. However, I can feel myself adjusting, day by day, and I feel better for it. I eat more food overall, but in smaller portions, and more healthily. My metabolism is getting better and better, and as that happens, I burn more fat, and build more muscle every day. I urge you to try the same.
Tip of the Day
Tomatoes are a great source of lycopene, a powerful antioxidant that fights cancer. Studies have shown that 30 milligrams of lycopene a day is a good amount to have in your diet. A single serving of marinara sauce can contain that much and more! Find a way to work tomatoes or tomato products into your every day lifestyle.
- BreadMan McGuire
January 13, 2008
A Good Start
I am a bachelor, and I like to eat healthy. Unfortunately, our modern society isn't built for the bachelor lifestyle. From grocery stores that sell enormous portions of food that you will never use before they go bad, to recipe books that tell you how to make dishes for 4-6 people, everything gangs up on the bachelor to tell him to either get fat, or waste food. My goal here is to tell you exactly how to avoid those two things.
I personally do not like eating leftovers. I am a very picky eater, and I get sick of particular flavors very quickly. I can't stand eating something microwaved from the fridge that I cooked previously. I don't even like eating leftovers from restaurants. One of my goals here is to help all of us avoid leftovers, without wasting food, so that we all never have to get sick of any one dish.
I am also not a man of means. I'm not poor by any sense of the word, but I don't have enough money to spend on amazing food every day of the week. Part of the bachelor lifestyle is keeping everything within a budget. Another goal of mine is to show you how you can eat great, without spending a ton of money.
There are two basic elements to the healthy eating lifestyle that we need to focus on. The first is building muscle. Muscle, hands down, is the best way to burn calories. You may think that cardio (running, bicycling) is the best way to lose weight, but I am telling you that it is not. Building muscle is superior, for exactly this reason: though you may burn many calories doing your cardio workout, your body will only continue to burn calories for about a half hour to forty five minutes afteward. When you build muscle (aka, pump iron), your body's natural calorie burn can continue for up to forty eight hours after your workout. You can burn up to twice as many calories by building muscle than you can by doing cardio. The second is speeding up our metabolisms. This is done by eating the right foods, in the right portions, and through our daily workouts.
The first place you want to start is by either using up most of the food you already have in your house, or giving it to someone else for them to use. We're going to start fresh, with a clean slate.
In order to eat healthy, we are going to need a few basics. These are foods that are easy to keep around, that you will eat constantly, and are probably going to make up the most of what you buy at the grocery store. As I list each food item, I'm also going to explain why you want to get each particular kind of food item, and not others.
1. Fat-free milk.
You might like your whole milk, or your two and one percent milks, but they are not nearly as good for you as fat-free milk. Especially the calcium-fortified kind. Fat in milk does add taste, but obviously, it also adds more fat to your diet, which you do not want. Buy fat-free milk every time, preferably calcium-fortified. Milk is great because liquids take up a lot of space in your stomach, and send signals to your brain telling you that you're full.
2. Whole-wheat bread
Everybody needs bread. We're going to use bread a lot, as sandwiches are a basic staple of the bachelor diet. When you're buying whole-wheat bread, look at the ingredients label. If you see High-Fructose Corn Syrup(HFCS), don't buy that kind, find one that doesn't have HFCS in it. Whole-wheat bread is great for you, because it has a lot of vitamins that are found in the wheat, however, you want to avoid HFCS, and I will tell you why. HFCS turns off your body's ability to tell if it is full. This is why you can eat hundreds of chips and never feel full. This is why you can drink tons of soda and not fill up. I will talk more about HFCS later, but basically, avoid it like the devil.
3. Lean meat
Meat is great because it has a lot of protein. Protein is the best nutrient for putting on muscle and cranking up your metabolism. This is because protein takes more time to digest, making you spend more calories doing something you do anyway, and protein is used to build muscle, which is one of our core goals.
Now, if you are a vegetarian (which is totally okay), or you just plain old don't like meat, that's fine, you can use soy protein instead. However, I urge you to reconsider based on one simple fact: studies have shown that your body burns %2 more calories during workouts with animal protein in your diet than with soy protein in your diet. If you are on a 2,000 calorie diet, that's 40 calories extra per day. Expand that weekly and you are burning 280 more calories per week than a vegetarian on a similar diet.
When buying your meat, the most important thing to take into account is how little fat it has. You want meat with as little fat as possible. If you can't figure out which meat is leaner, ask someone working in the meat or deli section which meat has less fat. Stay away from ham, which contains a lot more sodium than other meats. Always buy low-sodium cold cuts. Turkey is your best bet when it comes to animal protein. Steaks are amazing, but red meat is harder for your body to digest, so save it as a special treat.
I also want to talk about fish. Personally, I do not eat much fish. I don't like the taste. If you do like the taste, get ready to hear something awesome: Fish is great for you. Fish contains a ton of protein, and they also contain a great ingredient that you will find in almost nothing else on earth: Omega 3 oils. Omega 3s have been shown to reduce your risk of heart disease, as well as help you burn more fat. Different kinds of fish do have different levels of protein, so I'm going to list a few kinds in the order of most Omega 3s to least. All of these kinds of fish are prepared grilled: Mackerel, Salmon, Tuna, Trout, Shark, and last, Swordfish. Tuna in a can has much fewer Omega 3s than a filet of tuna, but if you buy it in an oil-packed can, you are getting significantly more Omega 3s than if you buy water-packed cans of tuna. Oysters are also a great source of Omega 3s.
4. Dairy products
There are many reasons why dairy products are great for you, and there are a lot of options for dairy besides milk. The foremost reason dairy is great for you is probably the one you've heard the most: it helps give you strong bones. Calcium is something you need a lot of in your diet, and dairy is where you'll be getting most of it. Calcium also helps you lose weight - calcium increases the amount of calories you burn while digesting, which means less work for you. Calcium also may prevent certain kinds of cancer. Studies have shown that men with diets high in calcium are less likely to develop colon cancer. Calcium has also been shown to hamper your body's ability to make new fat cells. Low-fat plain yogurt tastes great, and is a great source of calcium. It's easy to add to dishes, it's easy to eat with fruit, and it's easy to make smoothies with. Yogurt also has active cultures that aid in digestion. Cheese is another great source of dairy. It tastes great on sandwiches, can help aid in digestion, and lasts for a long time, making it a great bachelor food.
5. Peanut butter and jam
PB&J is the classic bachelor sandwich. It is quick to make, tastes great, and is decently good for you. You want to avoid the kind of peanut butter you probably buy right now, and change to buy sugar-free, all-natural PB. You don't want to eat very much, because peanut butter does have a lot of fat in it, but it's great in PB&J sandwiches, or as an additive to snacks, to pump up the flavor. It contains monounsaturated fats, which increase your body's production of testosterone, helping to build muscle and burn fat. Jam is not so great for you, so don't eat much of it, but raspberry jam (smuckers or colander are my favorite brands), in limited amounts, makes a great sandwich when mixed with peanut butter. Jam is also a better top for toast than butter.
6. Berries
Berries are the most awesome snack ever. Pretty much any kind of berry will do. Berries don't last THAT long (refrigerated they last about two weeks), but you will eat them so quickly that it won't matter. They go great as a snack, they go great in your breakfast, and they go great as a sweet addition to certain dinners. Berries contain powerful antioxidants, that help fight heart disease and cancer. Raspberries are my personal favorite, because they also improve your eyesight, balance, and coordination, besides tasting AMAZING. Blueberries are great as well, because they contain large amounts of fiber, which is good for digestion, and also keeps you feeling fuller, longer. Strawberries are great, but because they are larger, you want to eat fewer of them.
7. Almonds
Nuts contain protein and monounsaturated fats, which both help you build muscle and burn fat. They help fight heart disease and cancer, and help you feel full. Almonds are the best nuts you can find. They contain a ton of helpful vitamins and minerals, and are a great snack. Avoid smoke and salted nuts, get plain old almonds, and eat at least a couple of handfuls of them per day.
8. Extra-Protein Powder (also known as Whey Powder)
Whey protein is the best animal protein for building muscle, hands down. It has the highest amount of protein for the fewest number of calories, and it's extremely easy to add to your diet. You probably can't find this at your local grocery store, so visit a healthfood store like GNC and ask for some whey protein. You'll notice they have tons of different kinds in the store. Plain old whey protein powder doesn't taste like much, so is easy to add to a lot of foods. I personally buy the chocolate flavor, because I like to add mine to milk and smoothies, and it tastes great.
9. Flax seed powder
Flax seeds are the only other thing on this earth, besides fish, that contain Omega 3 oils. I've already told you how great Omega 3s are for you, and so you should want a lot of them in your diet. Flax seed (which you will also have to find at a health food store) has a nutty flavor, so it is easy to add to all kinds of meals. One tablespoon per day is all you'll need to maintain a good supply of Omega 3s, especially if you don't eat fish.
10. Instant Oatmeal.
Oatmeal is my preferred breakfast of choice. Buy the unsweetened, unflavored kinds, as they will have ingredients you don't want. It's quick to make (2-3 minutes in the microwave, less if you buy the quick cook kind), and it's easy to add healthy ingredients to. It's high in fiber, which will keep you feeling fuller, longer. Oatmeal also helps fight heart disease and cancer. I like to make my oatmeal with fat-free milk, a tablespoon of flax seed (it really gives the oatmeal a much more interesting flavor), and a handful of berries.
These ten foods are easy to keep for long periods of time, are great for you, and should make up your basic diet.
The last thing you should eat daily, and I cannot stress this enough, is a daily vitamin. My personal choice is Centrum Performance. Most people, especially bachelors, do not get a lot of the vitamins they need daily, so a daily vitamin is crucial to staying healthy. You want to get a daily vitamin that is high in vitamins A, C, D, E, K, B6 and B12. You also want plenty of riboflavin, niacin, iron, and zinc. I also reccomend taking a vitamin containing at least 70% of your daily value of magnesium, which helps build muscle, and finding a vitamin that will get you at least 1000 IU of Vitamin D per day, which has been shown to help bolster your immune system. Centrum Performance has only %10 DV magnesium and 400 IU Vitamin D, so I also take a magnesium supplement and a Vitamin D supplement.
I eagerly encourage all of my readers to send me feeback and ask questions. If it's something you don't know about your bachelor lifestyle, and want to find out, I'll do the research for you! If you think something I've written is wrong, please let me know, and I'll respond quickly, with more evidence backing up the correct answer. I welcome all kinds of feedback, and will try to respond to each and every bit. If you don't feel like commenting, I can be reached at brendanjmcguire AT gmail DOT com, or if you don't like email, you can instant message me on AIM at BachelorNutriGuy.
In the future, I'll be covering a few topics that are crucial to the bachelor lifestyle. These include, but are not limited to: working out, speeding up your metabolism, hard-to-keep food items, how to handle restaurant eating, and I will also be posting a weekly bachelor recipe - great food dishes, usually dinners, that are quick and easy to prepare, and best of all - leave you with only one serving. No leftovers, no waste!
- BreadMan McGuire
I personally do not like eating leftovers. I am a very picky eater, and I get sick of particular flavors very quickly. I can't stand eating something microwaved from the fridge that I cooked previously. I don't even like eating leftovers from restaurants. One of my goals here is to help all of us avoid leftovers, without wasting food, so that we all never have to get sick of any one dish.
I am also not a man of means. I'm not poor by any sense of the word, but I don't have enough money to spend on amazing food every day of the week. Part of the bachelor lifestyle is keeping everything within a budget. Another goal of mine is to show you how you can eat great, without spending a ton of money.
There are two basic elements to the healthy eating lifestyle that we need to focus on. The first is building muscle. Muscle, hands down, is the best way to burn calories. You may think that cardio (running, bicycling) is the best way to lose weight, but I am telling you that it is not. Building muscle is superior, for exactly this reason: though you may burn many calories doing your cardio workout, your body will only continue to burn calories for about a half hour to forty five minutes afteward. When you build muscle (aka, pump iron), your body's natural calorie burn can continue for up to forty eight hours after your workout. You can burn up to twice as many calories by building muscle than you can by doing cardio. The second is speeding up our metabolisms. This is done by eating the right foods, in the right portions, and through our daily workouts.
The first place you want to start is by either using up most of the food you already have in your house, or giving it to someone else for them to use. We're going to start fresh, with a clean slate.
In order to eat healthy, we are going to need a few basics. These are foods that are easy to keep around, that you will eat constantly, and are probably going to make up the most of what you buy at the grocery store. As I list each food item, I'm also going to explain why you want to get each particular kind of food item, and not others.
1. Fat-free milk.
You might like your whole milk, or your two and one percent milks, but they are not nearly as good for you as fat-free milk. Especially the calcium-fortified kind. Fat in milk does add taste, but obviously, it also adds more fat to your diet, which you do not want. Buy fat-free milk every time, preferably calcium-fortified. Milk is great because liquids take up a lot of space in your stomach, and send signals to your brain telling you that you're full.
2. Whole-wheat bread
Everybody needs bread. We're going to use bread a lot, as sandwiches are a basic staple of the bachelor diet. When you're buying whole-wheat bread, look at the ingredients label. If you see High-Fructose Corn Syrup(HFCS), don't buy that kind, find one that doesn't have HFCS in it. Whole-wheat bread is great for you, because it has a lot of vitamins that are found in the wheat, however, you want to avoid HFCS, and I will tell you why. HFCS turns off your body's ability to tell if it is full. This is why you can eat hundreds of chips and never feel full. This is why you can drink tons of soda and not fill up. I will talk more about HFCS later, but basically, avoid it like the devil.
3. Lean meat
Meat is great because it has a lot of protein. Protein is the best nutrient for putting on muscle and cranking up your metabolism. This is because protein takes more time to digest, making you spend more calories doing something you do anyway, and protein is used to build muscle, which is one of our core goals.
Now, if you are a vegetarian (which is totally okay), or you just plain old don't like meat, that's fine, you can use soy protein instead. However, I urge you to reconsider based on one simple fact: studies have shown that your body burns %2 more calories during workouts with animal protein in your diet than with soy protein in your diet. If you are on a 2,000 calorie diet, that's 40 calories extra per day. Expand that weekly and you are burning 280 more calories per week than a vegetarian on a similar diet.
When buying your meat, the most important thing to take into account is how little fat it has. You want meat with as little fat as possible. If you can't figure out which meat is leaner, ask someone working in the meat or deli section which meat has less fat. Stay away from ham, which contains a lot more sodium than other meats. Always buy low-sodium cold cuts. Turkey is your best bet when it comes to animal protein. Steaks are amazing, but red meat is harder for your body to digest, so save it as a special treat.
I also want to talk about fish. Personally, I do not eat much fish. I don't like the taste. If you do like the taste, get ready to hear something awesome: Fish is great for you. Fish contains a ton of protein, and they also contain a great ingredient that you will find in almost nothing else on earth: Omega 3 oils. Omega 3s have been shown to reduce your risk of heart disease, as well as help you burn more fat. Different kinds of fish do have different levels of protein, so I'm going to list a few kinds in the order of most Omega 3s to least. All of these kinds of fish are prepared grilled: Mackerel, Salmon, Tuna, Trout, Shark, and last, Swordfish. Tuna in a can has much fewer Omega 3s than a filet of tuna, but if you buy it in an oil-packed can, you are getting significantly more Omega 3s than if you buy water-packed cans of tuna. Oysters are also a great source of Omega 3s.
4. Dairy products
There are many reasons why dairy products are great for you, and there are a lot of options for dairy besides milk. The foremost reason dairy is great for you is probably the one you've heard the most: it helps give you strong bones. Calcium is something you need a lot of in your diet, and dairy is where you'll be getting most of it. Calcium also helps you lose weight - calcium increases the amount of calories you burn while digesting, which means less work for you. Calcium also may prevent certain kinds of cancer. Studies have shown that men with diets high in calcium are less likely to develop colon cancer. Calcium has also been shown to hamper your body's ability to make new fat cells. Low-fat plain yogurt tastes great, and is a great source of calcium. It's easy to add to dishes, it's easy to eat with fruit, and it's easy to make smoothies with. Yogurt also has active cultures that aid in digestion. Cheese is another great source of dairy. It tastes great on sandwiches, can help aid in digestion, and lasts for a long time, making it a great bachelor food.
5. Peanut butter and jam
PB&J is the classic bachelor sandwich. It is quick to make, tastes great, and is decently good for you. You want to avoid the kind of peanut butter you probably buy right now, and change to buy sugar-free, all-natural PB. You don't want to eat very much, because peanut butter does have a lot of fat in it, but it's great in PB&J sandwiches, or as an additive to snacks, to pump up the flavor. It contains monounsaturated fats, which increase your body's production of testosterone, helping to build muscle and burn fat. Jam is not so great for you, so don't eat much of it, but raspberry jam (smuckers or colander are my favorite brands), in limited amounts, makes a great sandwich when mixed with peanut butter. Jam is also a better top for toast than butter.
6. Berries
Berries are the most awesome snack ever. Pretty much any kind of berry will do. Berries don't last THAT long (refrigerated they last about two weeks), but you will eat them so quickly that it won't matter. They go great as a snack, they go great in your breakfast, and they go great as a sweet addition to certain dinners. Berries contain powerful antioxidants, that help fight heart disease and cancer. Raspberries are my personal favorite, because they also improve your eyesight, balance, and coordination, besides tasting AMAZING. Blueberries are great as well, because they contain large amounts of fiber, which is good for digestion, and also keeps you feeling fuller, longer. Strawberries are great, but because they are larger, you want to eat fewer of them.
7. Almonds
Nuts contain protein and monounsaturated fats, which both help you build muscle and burn fat. They help fight heart disease and cancer, and help you feel full. Almonds are the best nuts you can find. They contain a ton of helpful vitamins and minerals, and are a great snack. Avoid smoke and salted nuts, get plain old almonds, and eat at least a couple of handfuls of them per day.
8. Extra-Protein Powder (also known as Whey Powder)
Whey protein is the best animal protein for building muscle, hands down. It has the highest amount of protein for the fewest number of calories, and it's extremely easy to add to your diet. You probably can't find this at your local grocery store, so visit a healthfood store like GNC and ask for some whey protein. You'll notice they have tons of different kinds in the store. Plain old whey protein powder doesn't taste like much, so is easy to add to a lot of foods. I personally buy the chocolate flavor, because I like to add mine to milk and smoothies, and it tastes great.
9. Flax seed powder
Flax seeds are the only other thing on this earth, besides fish, that contain Omega 3 oils. I've already told you how great Omega 3s are for you, and so you should want a lot of them in your diet. Flax seed (which you will also have to find at a health food store) has a nutty flavor, so it is easy to add to all kinds of meals. One tablespoon per day is all you'll need to maintain a good supply of Omega 3s, especially if you don't eat fish.
10. Instant Oatmeal.
Oatmeal is my preferred breakfast of choice. Buy the unsweetened, unflavored kinds, as they will have ingredients you don't want. It's quick to make (2-3 minutes in the microwave, less if you buy the quick cook kind), and it's easy to add healthy ingredients to. It's high in fiber, which will keep you feeling fuller, longer. Oatmeal also helps fight heart disease and cancer. I like to make my oatmeal with fat-free milk, a tablespoon of flax seed (it really gives the oatmeal a much more interesting flavor), and a handful of berries.
These ten foods are easy to keep for long periods of time, are great for you, and should make up your basic diet.
The last thing you should eat daily, and I cannot stress this enough, is a daily vitamin. My personal choice is Centrum Performance. Most people, especially bachelors, do not get a lot of the vitamins they need daily, so a daily vitamin is crucial to staying healthy. You want to get a daily vitamin that is high in vitamins A, C, D, E, K, B6 and B12. You also want plenty of riboflavin, niacin, iron, and zinc. I also reccomend taking a vitamin containing at least 70% of your daily value of magnesium, which helps build muscle, and finding a vitamin that will get you at least 1000 IU of Vitamin D per day, which has been shown to help bolster your immune system. Centrum Performance has only %10 DV magnesium and 400 IU Vitamin D, so I also take a magnesium supplement and a Vitamin D supplement.
I eagerly encourage all of my readers to send me feeback and ask questions. If it's something you don't know about your bachelor lifestyle, and want to find out, I'll do the research for you! If you think something I've written is wrong, please let me know, and I'll respond quickly, with more evidence backing up the correct answer. I welcome all kinds of feedback, and will try to respond to each and every bit. If you don't feel like commenting, I can be reached at brendanjmcguire AT gmail DOT com, or if you don't like email, you can instant message me on AIM at BachelorNutriGuy.
In the future, I'll be covering a few topics that are crucial to the bachelor lifestyle. These include, but are not limited to: working out, speeding up your metabolism, hard-to-keep food items, how to handle restaurant eating, and I will also be posting a weekly bachelor recipe - great food dishes, usually dinners, that are quick and easy to prepare, and best of all - leave you with only one serving. No leftovers, no waste!
- BreadMan McGuire
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