Our Fitness Trainer's Top 3 Tips for Healthy Eating

I hope some of you have tried the weights program I shared a few weeks back (you can check it out here...with gifs!) and are enjoying it; you'll notice results as early as four weeks so keep it up. Training is a huge part the road to results but of course it goes hand in hand with nutrition.

I give clients food advice all the time and a lot of them ask me what I eat and how I stay on track. I don’t follow a particular way of eating - I’m not vegan or paleo or any of the other common methods you may hear of. And I will also eat cheat meals.

I personally hate the word diet because the word suggests something temporary. I think it’s important to find a sustainable way of eating that you can stick to long term. I love food and honestly find it easy and satisfying to stick to my routine.

I’m going to share with you what I eat on a typical day and the healthy eating guidelines the other trainers at Metabolic Fitness and I live by.

Here are my top three tips for healthy eating.

• Eat Real Food:

As a rule I eat foods as close to their natural state as possible so I avoid low fat products and processed foods. Food manufacturers add sugar and artificial sweeteners/ chemicals to compensate when fat is removed, and sugar will contribute to fat gain far more than fat. For me, the only food I cut out completely is wheat, ie bread, crackers, bagels, bread, noodles, biscuits and so on.

If I pick something up that has an ingredient list a mile long I generally don’t eat it or if sugar is one of the first ingredients.

Tip: the first ingredient is the most abundant and sugar is often masked as fructose, glucose, sucrose and many more.

• Ditch the Diet:

Diets are a bad idea if you ask me. I don’t do juice diets, soup diets or anything similar. Women tend to go on these fad diets more than men, you might end up losing weight temporarily but it ultimately it can mess up your metabolism which results in long term weight gain.

I think it’s important to find a way to eat healthily long term and stop thinking about quick fixes. I never deprive myself of anything as I said I eat cheat meals and if I fancy a glass of wine or two at the weekend I will have them - everything in moderation. Remember if you have one bad meal just remember to make the next one right, don’t beat yourself up.

• Eat protein, carbs and LOTS of green veg:

My daily meals are generally made up of a protein source like chicken, salmon, beef, turkey and lots of vegetables. I also eat carbs like sweet potato, regular potato and basmati rice. And I try to have protein in every meal. It is important to eat when you are exercising, your body needs protein to repair and recover from exercise!

When it comes to my own nutrition, I try my best to eat every three hours and to also have protein with every meal.

• Breakfast:

I don’t have a carb rich breakfast as studies have shown a breakfast higher in protein and fat stabilises appetite for the rest of the day. I will have two whole eggs cooked whatever way I like with bacon, avocado or smoked salmon. Or I have an omelette filled with mostly protein and fat sources such as ham and feta cheese. Check out my article on healthy breakfast options here.

• Snacks:  

Nuts are a perfect snack, 10-12 is plenty. I like almonds and cashews best, avoid peanuts though!  Nut butter is also a great snack option I generally spread it on oat cakes or rice cakes.

• Lunch: 

I have salad with a meat or fish source and a LARGE portion of salad, literally as much greenery as I can eat. Or I will have a more dinner type meal for lunch with a portion of meat and vegetables.

• Dinner: 

This is the meal when I include starchy carbohydrates (basmati rice or sweet potato mostly) a portion for me is about the size of my fist with a large protein portion and I fill my plate with predominantly green veg. If frying meat or fish I use either butter or coconut oil. I’ll often make extra so I can have a smaller portion for lunch the next day.

• Drinks: 

I drink at least two litres of water a day, more if I’m training and need more hydration. I like to have an Americano in the morning but after that I’ll switch to green tea throughout the day.

• Evening snack: 

If I feel like something sweet in the evening after dinner I have a few squares of +70% cocoa chocolate. I sometimes make sweet, healthy treats too, my favourites are bounty bars and bliss balls. Check out my Instagram for recipes.

Once you’ve built up a repertoire of healthy recipes, eating healthily becomes enjoyable and easier to stick to. Of course, falling off the wagon will happen now and again!

Have any of you tried and loved/ loathed a food plan? What worked (or didn’t) for you?

Until next week,

Fiona

Metabolic Fitness Trainer

Follow Fiona’s fitness adventure on Instagram!