Fitness magazines and so-called fitness pundits love to flood their audience with the same old messages year after year.
Summer’s coming? Try our orange-only diet!
Winter’s coming? Then try our 14-day watery soup diet!
Summer’s gone? Why don’t you try our brand new ‘don’t eat until noon’ diet?
I’ve never been too fond of those standardized diets that are supposed to work wonders on everyone. Everybody has a different metabolism and different reactions to different foods, and thus using a run-of-the-mill magazine diet doesn’t make any sense at all. Instead of being hell-bent on losing that extra inch on the waist by turning into a diet maniac, let’s approach the problem from a different angle: by making small, gradual changes to your diet over a period of time, you won’t feel like you’ve been imprisoned and banned from opening the fridge ever again.
We are creatures of habits, changing them is a long process, not a 2-week sprint. Give yourself just 3 months to completely rethink what foods define you and what acceptable substitutes you’d be ready to use to get healthier and, therefore slimmer.
Usually, people want to get slim first, without even thinking about what impact it can have on their health when the trim-down is done without regard to proper nutrition.
Below is a substitute chart that you can use as a basis to redefine your diet in the long term.
Most frequently used carbs
- White bread
- White pasta
- White rice
Acceptable substitutes
- Whole grain bread, 50/50 bread (half white flour, half whole flour)
- Whole grain pasta, spinach-based pasta, tomato-based pasta
- Gabba rice/whole grain rice
Most frequently used vegetables
- Carrots
- Tomatoes
- Green peas
Acceptable substitutes
- Cauliflower
- Avocado
- Kidney beans
The most frequently used protein
- Beef
- Pork
- Chicken
Acceptable substitutes
- Turkey
- Ostrich
- Crustaceans
The shortlist of substitutes I’ve mentioned here is to be used as a starting point, and they all are, without exception, far superior in terms of health benefits. Saying no to a fat, juicy hamburger is still too hard? Cheat, please! A simple rule of thumb will significantly help you in your quest for a better figure (outside AND, most importantly, inside): 90/10.
Nutritionally, if you stay on track with your substitutes 90% of the time, you’re allowed to cheat hard 10% of the time. Suicidal? Not at all, consider this as a just reward for your efforts. Eat clean, go easy on the salad dressing and exercise every day except on Sunday. Sunday is truly your pig out day. have a burger with fries and wash it down with an ice-cold coke. This reward will help you cope with the change, and the beauty of it all is that you don’t even have to feel guilty about it! Used to clean, wholesome foods, your body won’t have the chance to notice that you cheated it of a healthy meal.
At the Aspire Club, we don’t talk nonsense, we don’t sell miracle pills. Instead, we listen to our clients and come up with training and diet plans that are unique and individual, no fast food fitness here!
Call today at 02 229 4114 or email us for a free discovery nutrition session
