Another Nutrition Rant

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting with a nice young girl who is new to the fitness industry and aspiring to be a personal trainer at a local gym in town. She joined my training facility to better her knowledge and continue her education in the field. She is a hard worker, has a great attitude and does everything she is asked.

Last week she approached me and asked If we could sit down and I could take a quick look at her food journal.

As much as I wanted to say no and get on my merry way, I decided to take a quick look into what the twenty somethings were doing these days regarding diet and nutrition.

She proceeded to tell me how she has been working with a local nutritionist for the last several months but has been getting nowhere.

As I opened her journal to take a look, I started to cringe like I do most times when I put myself through this torture.

The first thing that caught my eye was the “protein pancakes” followed by rice cakes, paleo cookies, shitty protein shakes, a low vegetable intake, sugary fruits, ezekiel bread and quinoa.

Now anyone that knows me, pretty much is aware the last thing I care about or want to talk about is diet. The main reason being, is people simply do not listen or care.

Most people will complain about how they look but will never change a thing. They’ll say they want better abs, leaner arms and a better butt.

But not more than they want that extra glass of wine or fries with their burger.

Society is fucked when it comes to nutrition. Straight up.

We deal with three groups:

GROUP ONE:

The Uneducated. The group that simply will just not eat. I mean, all day.

They’ll get home at night, pour a glass of wine and have a few pieces of cheese and a few crackers to curb their craving.

They eventually find themselves bewildered that they are not losing weight with such a low caloric diet.

FUCKED

GROUP TWO:

The Crazy’s. The ones who eat 6-8 meals a day. Ya know, “to stoke the metabolism” to lose weight.

Oatmeal, honey dew, protein pancakes and a few eggs. Followed by 8 chicken breasts, rice, sweet potatoes and so on.

FUCKED

GROUP THREE:

The IDontGiveaFu$kers. This group just doesn't care, straight up.

Crap for breakfast, crap for lunch and crap for dinner. This group has gone completely off the deep end and most likely can not be helped.

EDUCATION?

Do that many people truly struggle because they are uneducated about whats healthy and whats not?

I honestly believe in my heart of hearts that if I put in front of you three hardboiled eggs and a cup of mixed berries or a waffle smothered in butter, powdered sugar and syrup that you could pick the healthier option.

I truly believe that.

So heres the deal, if you want to eat Italian subs smothered in mayo seven days a week, more power to you. If burgers and cheese fries are your thing, awesome. Save me some.

You like the hooch? I’m down as well.

Stoli on the rocks please.

But we need to be aware of it and I think deep down we all are.

So if not self awareness, then what is it? Why such a struggle for most?

TIME?

Family, high stress job and long hours. Aright, I'm listening.

You make every attempt to eat clean but sometimes life gets in the way. Now, I can understand issues like this. Jess and I deal with many of the same ourselves in our own family life.

So than how can we simplify it?

One thing that has helped Jess, myself and the kids is having our food prepped for the week.

Now, Jess and I run a pretty successful food company doing custom meal prep for more than thirty clients across the surrounding area. Clients will contact us directly for healthy, custom orders for their selves or family.

This has been a huge help with how we prep for the week for our family to keep everybody on the right track, especially the kids.

DO YOUR BEST.

We will prepare a bunch of different healthy chicken, beef, pork and seafood recipes throughout the week. Jess will pair those with fresh garden vegetables and tasty herbs. We will then portion out our meals and have them ready to go for lunch and dinner.

The key to all this is to having healthy meals prepared in advance. If you don't have the time to do this prep work and you know that diet and nutrition is a goal of yours, think about reaching out to a company or individuals who will do this for you.

(I would go with http://www.wellbalancedkids.com/#!kickstart-plan/sdate if I were you) I told you in the last article, I have no shame. I admit it.

Its no secret guys, I'm sure most of us would want to eat healthier if it was made and right in front of us. You don't just choose Wendy's because you want it, (well some of you do). But you wouldn't choose Wendy's if you had a nice piece of steak or fish prepared and waiting for you at home.

Wendy's is easy. Society is lazy.

Diet and nutrition does not have to be complicated guys. What has worked since the beginning of time, still works today. It’s about finding the time or reaching out for help. Those are your only two options.

You remember the old saying, “If it’s important to you, you’ll find a way, If not you’ll find an excuse”

These are mine and Jess’ guidelines not only for ourselves but all of our cooking clients as well. Each and everyone of us and them has been wildly successful following these.

Goodluck and enjoy!

1. Try and eat as natural as possible. No processed foods. Hormone and pesticide free

2. Up your vegetable and fruit intake (Berries, pineapple, apples, oranges, mango)

3. Try and eat organic

4. Cut down on gluten

5. Up your fiber intake which includes greens

6. Try and drink a gallon of water a day

7. Take a probiotic and digestive enzyme

8. Try and cut out the sugar

9. Cut down on the alcohol

10. Cut down on inflammatory foods