Getting Back To Basics

Nutrition is the science of nutrients and how they are digested, absorbed, transported, metabolized, stored, and eliminated by the body. This means what you eat will affect your health, how much fat you lose, how much muscle you can gain, how energetic you feel and so much more.

Here are Naed Nutrition’s top tips to improving your health & wellbeing

Keep hydrated: water is important for

Boosting energy & Aiding the absorption of water soluble nutrients

Elimination of toxins which is needed for  WEIGHT LOSS and for fat metabolism,

Joint mobility & Improving cognitive function

You need to eat fat to burn fat. When you are wanting to burn body fat and lose weight you want to focus on the unsaturated fats such as monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA’s) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA’s). 

MUFA’s : olive oils, avocado’s nuts & seeds

PUFA’s (Omega 3’s): fish, nuts, seeds & algae

Eat High protein foods as they allow the body to burn fat by satiety. It allows you to limit excessive carbohydrate intake by keeping you full, controlling appetite, levelling blood sugar levels and increasing metabolism. Protein is found in:

Red meat, poultry, fish, eggs, nuts, seeds, beans and legumes

Eat Carbohydrates in moderation. Carbohydrates are important for burning fat. Good carbohydrate sources are

Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, rice, seeds, legumes and sweet potato

Removed Refine Sugars: white breads, pasta, sugar, lollies (adding to coffee, tea, cereal); these highly refined sugars spike insulin levels and eventually feel you leaving low on energy, depletes essential nutrients from your body, affects your liver and promotes weight gain.

1 x treat per week: If you’re 100% focused on clean eating & weight loss, don’t convince yourself that a ‘treat’ more than once a week is ok. A treat can be anything from chocolate, to alcohol, to a big pasta meal. Once a week until you get to your goal is enough to keep you focused on your goal without depriving yourself, your goal is bigger than that block of chocolate!

Increase your veg: for most people this is the most difficult and here are some helpful hints

Cut up carrot and celery to snack munch on during the day

Make a fruit salad or have a piece of fruit as a snack

Make a stir fry with veggies you don’t normally eat

Try a Green smoothie

Add an extra cup of salad to lunch & an extra cup of vegetables to dinner

Plan & Organise your food:

Plan you meals AND snacks AND include the weekend: Write it down from Monday to Sunday, breakfast through to Supper, every meal & you want to eat. A common mistake people make is forgetting to plan their food for the weekend as well as during the week

Prep what you like with lots of variety: If you don’t like cooking & freezing meals you don’t have to, your prep can be portioning out your meats & protein, cutting & washing & separating all your veggies for the week. You will be amazed at how much time you will save during the week

Portion control: Just because you have cooked up 1kg of chicken that is to die for doesn’t mean you eat it all in a day: portion out the correct portion and spread it out to get the best variety

If you need more help with your nutrition contact sinead@naednutrition.com.au

Why Keep a Food Diary?

Being accountable to your food intake can ultimately be the difference between achieving your goal and not achieving your goal. One of the easiest ways to be accountable is to keep a food diary. You can track what you eat, when you eat, when you stick to your plan and when you struggle to.

It is such an amazing tool to keep you on track, conscious of your intake, and watching out for areas you can improve on. It is NOT about making yourself feel bad or pointing out every time you went s stray from the meal plan.

It is all about ACCOUNTABILITY.

How can I keep a food diary?

• Writing it down on paper or in a journal
• Using an app on your phone, ipad or laptop (i.e. Doc's Diet Diary)

What do I need to track?

• How much you eat AND drink– portions in cups or grams
• What you eat – everything involved writing ‘salad’ is no descriptive enough
• When you eat – timing is everything with food intake when you eat can affect your progress
• Why you eat – is it according to your meal plan? Is it because you are bored?

What else should I track on my food diary?

• Your thoughts/emotions – can help you understand why you make certain food choices
• Any symptoms you are having – if there is an intolerance? Or fatigue in a training session
• Your training – to ensure you are fueling your body & staying accountable to your training
• Supplements & medications – to ensure you are sticking to your regime and timing

Should I share my food diary?

Not on Facebook but to a trusted health & fitness professional that can give you some honest and constructive feedback on how you are going. Making a few small adjustments can be the difference between achieving your goal and not achieving your goal

At Naed Nutrition we offer food diary feedback as part of many of our packages and services however you can choose it on it’s own for only $10 per week: Food Diary Feedback

Jan's Lasagna

With the success of the most recent Rebel Fitness Body Revolution this was a recipe from the challenge I just had to share

We put a challenge to all our revolutioners to pick a a favourite recipe of theirs for Naed Nutritioin to make healthy for Body Revolution #9

With overwhelming results the favourite was Jan's Lasagna so here is the recipe

Makes

8 serves

Ingredients

500g extra lean organic beef mince

1 white onion

3 cloves of garlic

1 tsp olive oil

1 cup of slice mushrooms

1 cup of mixed beans

1 cup of frozen peas, corn and carrot

2 tins of diced tomato or MYO (See Nina’s Pizza Recipe)

2 cups of spinach

2 cups of milk

2 tbls corn flour

150g ricotta

8-10 mountain bread wraps

1 cup of grated cheese (of your choosing)

Method

1. Preheat oven 200°C.
2. Dice onion and garlic. Heat large saucepan and oil. Add onion and garlic to the pan for 1 minute
3. Add mince and cook until almost brown
4. Add 1 cup of mushrooms and cook until mince is brown
5. Add frozen peas, corn and carrot along with beans for 2 minutes
6. Add tinned tomato and simmer for 5 minutes
7. Wilt spinach (in microwave, or pan) and add to sauce. Simmer for another 5 minutes
8. Meanwhile make cheese sauce: add milk, corn flour and ricotta into a sauce pan until slightly thickened and remove from heat
9. Blend the meat mixture with a hand blender until no chucks of vegetables are visible
10. Line the lasagne dish with 1 past sheet. Add one layer of meat sauce and add another pasta sheet on top. Pour roughly 2-3 tbls of cheese sauce and spread grated cheese evenly. Continue to build until no more meat sauce is left.
11. Place in the oven until top is browned (roughly 15-20minutes)
12. Serve with 1.5 cups of mixed greens per serve

Improving your intake isn't about taking all of your favourites out of your life but improving them so you still enjoy your food AND achieve your results

To take part int he next Rebel Body Revolution challenge contact Sean from Rebel Fitness