Taking A Break From A Healthy Diet. How Soon Is Too Soon?

So you’ve been good the whole week. You’ve eaten healthy meals and have managed to stay away from all those things that can slow down your progress. Now you wanna reward yourself with a few big macs and some sugar filled treats. You’re thinking “How much harm can they do to my one week of healthy eating” right? Well, loads actually.

Although its amazing that you’ve stayed healthy for one week (especially if you just got into healthy eating), its not ok to take a weekly break from a regular healthy diet.

Here are my top 3 reasons for not taking a break so soon

Your body just started burning up those excess calories. You spending a day or two, tanking up on alcohol and junk food treats, can easily add 3000-4000 extra calories to your diet. This may sound impossible but given that just a double whopper has around1400 calories, you can easily pile on the excess without even realizing and end up right back at square 1. Not somewhere you wanna be when you are trying hard to get fit

Your cravings will never stop. When you are regularly eating junk food, even if it is on a weekly or a fortnightly basis, you’ll keep on wanting more of it. Which means that it will be harder for you stay true to your cause.

You are more likely to give up healthy eating. A break from healthy eating can easily turn into a permanent vacation. People tend not to even realize how this happens. One day they’re just thinking they’ll indulge themselves for one more day. Then 5 months and 10 pounds later, they’re still indulging. These people aren’t weak, its just human nature - The deeper you get into something, the harder it is to come out.

So when should you take a break? I say once a month is good. If you spend 29 days eating healthy and exercising, chances are that one day of heavy eating wont change a lot of things. But even then, be careful. Its really easy to extend your break.

At the end of the day you totally should take a break. Like I’ve said before, you’re doing all of this health stuff to enjoy life. And part of the enjoyment comes from indulging these things once in a while. But that’s what it should be once in a while.

Stay Fit

Apollo

Read more!

Apollo's Daily Diet

Lets get straight to it. What do I eat and how do I make sure I eat to stay healthy and fit? I get asked this Q all the time. So today I thought I’d share my meal plan with you.

Its got 3 proper meals, and then a lot of little snacks that I keep having through out the day. Before you read on, I need you to understand one thing. I do not slave away all day preparing these snacks. It literally takes me seconds. So do not think that I am a freak of nature who spends days preparing these meals. It’s just not possible and not at all practical to do that. All my snacks are off the shelf. Now that we’ve cleared that up, lets read on…..

9 am breakfast - Protein shake
I’m not one of those people who can eat early in the morning. Plus like the most of you, I don’t really have time to make an elaborate breakfast. But at the same time I know I need my nutrition. What better way to do that than starting out with a protein shake. Its on the go, it doesn’t take me ages to prepare and above all its what my muscles use to build and repair themselves.

11am mid morning snack – Oatmeal
This is when my eyes really open up and I am fully awake. By this time my body usually signals me to get some energy for the day. Oatmeal is the clear choice. Its got fiber, its low in sugar, has very little fat and has quality carbohydrates. Plus it’s a natural way to reduce cholesterol.

1:30 pm lunch – A mix of everything
I don’t really stick to one kind of set meal. No one should. I usually choose a combination of the below foods for my lunch

Chicken - grilled, cooked or roasted
Fish - cooked, steamed, roasted or grilled
Vegetables - cooked or roasted
Lentils – cooked
Lean minced meat – cooked
Whole grain pasta or wild rice (helping size about the size of my fist or hand if I’m really hungry)
Whole grain bread (a couple of slices)

4:00pm post lunch snack – Wheat Crackers, nuts or fruit
By this time I start getting the munchies. Wheat crackers are something that I’ve really started to like. But some days I go nuts with nuts :) While I usually have fruits post my workout, on some days I go with a banana, apple or some plums

6:00 pm pre workout snack – small sandwich
This is really a mini sandwich since I don’t want to throw up during my workout. I usually have a slice of bread with some turkey. Or if I’m short on time I just go with what I eat as my post lunch snack.

8pm post workout snack - fruit 
Now that I’ve used up my energy working out, I have some quality sugar in the form of berries or a pomegranate to bring back my glycogen levels. Don’t worry about what glycogen is. I’ll be explaining that in a later post. For now just know that after your workout its good to have some fruit.

8:30 pm dinner – Chicken, turkey or fish
At night, I like to keep things simple. I don’t like going to bed with a stuffed feeling. So a simple cooked or grilled meal does the trick for me.

10:30 pm post dinner snack – Protein shake
I finish the day with what I started - my nutritious shake. A lot of us don’t realize that protein is what feeds our muscles. And they sometimes don’t have enough of it. Well they should. After all its what works its magic on the muscles.

So there you go. That’s my meal plan. Sure there will be some obvious questions like why protein shakes, why so many meals. Don’t worry. I’ll be sure to address all those Qs and more.

If you do have other Qs however, be sure to ask them through your comments and I'll be sure to answer them

Stay tuned and Stay Fit

Apollo

Read more!

Food Advertisers. What They Tell You, What They Dont

Proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Pretty much everyone knows what they are now. More and more people are asking about calories and looking at food labels, trying to make sense of the ingredients. This of course, poses a problem for our favorite fast food chains and the other food advertisers out there. If we wisen up, how are these guys going to shove that 1100 calorie burger down our throats? Or worse…whose going to drink that 1400 calorie sugar-filled slurpy? After all that’s where their "moolah" comes from. Because of this, they’ve become really selective of what is put out there, and only market the hell out of those few things that are fit enough to communicate. Well they aren’t going to get us that easily! Because today I’m going to talk about what what they don’t tell you about their Sugar & Grease combo.

What they tell you: Less than 2% fat

What they don’t: More than 50% sugar

What they tell you: Made from natural ingredients

What they don’t: How much they process those natural ingredients to drain every ounce of goodness from them

What they tell you: No trans fats

What they don’t: A lot of saturated fat

What they tell you: No added Sugar

What they don’t: The tons of refined sugar the product already has

What they tell you: Only 350 calories

What they don’t: The processed ingredients making up the calories. It’s not all healthy

What they tell you: Grilled to perfection

What they don’t: Marinated in butter and other sugary sauces before the grilling begins

What they tell you: Same amount of vitamin C as there is in an orange

What they don’t: 10 times the amount of sugar that is there in an entire bucket of oranges

What they tell you: The ultimate sports drink to energize your workouts

What they don’t: Unless you’re doing something extremely strenuous over a long period, you can do just fine with water and a healthy pre-workout meal

What they tell you: High in protein

What they don’t: Also high in sodium, saturated fat and processed carbs

I could go on and on, but I think you smart people get the picture. So the next time you hear or read their marketing pitch, make sure you consider the other aspects as well. It will go a long way to keep you healthy

Keep smiling:)

Layla

Read more!