Five Nutritional Habits For A Healthy & Lean Body Forever

We don’t adhere to any specific nutrition philosophy at Ultimate Performance. Instead, our clients’ individual needs determine the direction they are taken in.

Over the years, we have found that most of our nutrition advice is based on five important habits.

The client’s goals and starting point will determine how detailed and specific the habits should be.

A client who wants to reduce body fat from 30% to 20% will have a ‘looser plan’ than one who is looking to drop from 10% to 8%.

No matter what your goal is, these five habits will keep you healthy and lean for life.

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Habit #1: Eat between 2 and 4 hours.

The important thing is that you eat regularly every day. In general, eating every two to four hour will work out to between three and six meals per day. Your lifestyle will determine where you are on the spectrum. Most importantly, it depends on what makes you feel good.

It is important to maintain blood sugar levels in order to reduce food cravings. Staying satiated from a compliance standpoint is essential.

A recipe for disaster is eating too little and having excessive gaps between meals. This will lead to an “accidental” box of biscuits. This can be prevented by adopting habit #1.

Habit # 2: Make sure that every dish contains some source of protein.

One of our few rules that we do not compromise on is the fact that each meal should include a source of protein.

Protein intake is often inadequate for the vast majority of people who enter the door.

You must follow this habit if you want to see real changes in your body composition.

This is a simple rule. Men should aim to consume 30-40g of chicken breast per meal. This is approximately 150-200g. Women should aim for 20-30g of chicken breast per meal.

Look at the list of foods below. Make sure that you include one or more of these items on your plate every time you eat.

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Three reasons why protein is important for improving body composition.

1. It’s Satiating.

In keeping with habit 1, a sufficient intake of protein will keep you feeling satisfied.

Consider this. What do you feel like when you eat cake versus a steak or a burger?

A cake may leave you feeling a bit peckish in an hour, but a steak should keep you satisfied for the next three hours.

2. TEF (High Thermic Food)

TEF is the energy expenditure that occurs above the resting metabolism rate as a result of the processing and storage costs for food.

Protein is more difficult to digest and break down than carbohydrates and fats. It is more expensive to digest and therefore costs more calories. Some studies show that the TEF for protein is anywhere between 25-30%. Carbohydrates (5-10%), and fats (2-5%), are much lower.

3. Growth and Repair

Proteins are essential for tissue growth and repair. It can be found in your hair, skin, and, specifically, muscle cells.

When you train hard (which is what we assume), your need for protein will increase. In order to create a change in body composition, you need to train more frequently. Your protein intake should reflect that.

You need to feed your machine because muscle is expensive!

Habit 3: Eat vegetables at every feeding opportunity.

Why is it important to eat your vegetables ?

Three reasons for this:

1. Vitamins and minerals are packed into this delicious snack.

Real food cannot be replaced by any supplement. Even though the quality of our vegetables has declined, it is still important to eat a variety of vegetables in order to meet your vitamin and minerals needs. This will also help to detoxify and suppress inflammatory markers. If you want to appear younger, then eat more veggies.

2. Healthy digestion

Vegetables are high in fibre, especially green vegetables like broccoli, green beans, kale etc. They are usually high in fiber, which helps keep you “regular”. It is especially important to do this if you are following a low carbohydrate diet.

3. Satiety

Satisfaction is a constant theme in our lives. A sustainable diet will keep you on track all year long. This is best achieved by staying satiated, which will prevent cravings, hunger and diet “outbreaks”.

Vegetables are a good source of fibre, due to their large volume and high fibre content.

As a rule, you should make sure that vegetables cover at least one third of your plate. If you are on a low carbohydrate diet then make half of your plate protein and half of it veggies.

Habit #4: Eat a variety of healthy fats every day.

Dietary fat is probably the worst-respected macronutrient. It has been linked to obesity, high cholesterol, and even heart disease.

While it is beyond the scope and purpose of this article to dispel those myths, many studies have proven that fat doesn’t make you fat.

You need fat if you want to lead a healthy and lean lifestyle. It is an essential nutrient.

Here’s why:

1. Fat is essential for absorption of fat soluble vitamins (A, D E and K) through the small intestinal tract. You need fat to get the most out of your vegetables.

2. Fat is required to maintain the health of cell membranes. The health of your cell membranes is crucial to managing inflammation and metabolism.

3. Fat is essential for hormone production.

4. When on a low-carbohydrate diet, fat is an excellent energy source.

What determines healthy fats?

You should include a variety of fats in the diet. All fats play a role in the body. It can be unnecessary for people to worry about the amount of each.

Add a healthy fat source to your diet a few times per day.

We will discourage the consumption of trans fats. These are “man-made” and have been strongly linked to a number health complications.

Habit #5 – Make sure you consume the majority of carbohydrates around your training or at night.

Carbohydrates do not make you fat. Although not an essential nutrient, carbs have some obvious metabolic benefits.

1. Fuel for high-intensity exercises

Keep some carbohydrates around your training time can boost performance, recovery and strength.

2. Muscle mass increases.

The breakdown of muscle protein is highest after training. The body can replenish glycogen at this time, and insulin levels will spike. This creates an “anabolic” environment after training.

Our experience with thousands clients has shown that carbohydrates after a workout can help build muscle, and lose fat.

3. Thyroid output

Carbohydrates can directly affect thyroid function due to insulin’s role in converting the inactive hormone T4 into the active hormone T3 (responsible of a healthy metabolism).

4. Better Sleep

After training and before bedtime are the two times we add carbs to our diet. Carbs before bed can help you sleep better by’relaxing’ your body. Click here to read more about how food can help you sleep better.

You can choose from a variety of carbohydrate foods, including sweet potatoes, oats or basmati rice.

All of these things have their place. These tools are vital when you need to create radical body changes.

To maintain a healthy physique and make the diet last, it is important to instill good habits.

We have found that the five habits discussed in this article will help you to stay healthy and lean for life.