Although a Meal Plan will have been provided, it doesn’t have to be entirely prescriptive. By making informed dietary choices and aiming for your daily target calories and macronutrients, it is possible to be a little more flexible and create your own meals. Below is a list of healthy choices for the various macronutrients that you might want to use to design your own meals. All of these ingredients are ostensibly healthy foods, so even if you are following the strict meal plan, you can use the list below to substitute ingredients that you might not like or not be able to source:
Protein
Animal Protein Choices:
- Fish
- Prawns & Shrimp
- Game Meat
- White Poultry Meat (Chicken & Turkey)
- Lean or extra-lean cuts of beef such as sirloin or round cuts, greater than 93% lean ground beef
- Egg and egg whites
- Whey protein isolate (if dairy is well tolerated)
Tip: Meats can often contain other less healthy ingredients when processed and packed for longevity or convenience, so aim to get the best quality food you can as fresh as possible
Plant-based Protein Choices:
- Tofu
- Nuts & nut butters (peanut, cashew, walnut, brazil, pecan, pistachio, macadamia)
- Seeds (hemp, sunflower, fenugreek, sesame, pumpkin, chia, flax)
- Vegan protein shakes (hemp, pea, rice, etc)
- Chickpeas
- Lentils
- Beans
- Mushrooms
- Spirulina
- Quinoa
- Green Peas
Tip: Remember that plant-based proteins often cross over for carbohydrate content.
Carbohydrates
- Gluten-free oats
- Brown and wild rice
- Butternut squash
- Potatoes
- Sweet potatoes
- Sorghum
- Buckwheat
Fats
A great way to consume healthy fats is via the oils you use to cook and dress your meals. Excellent examples would include:
- Avocado Oil
- Coconut Oil
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Flaxseed oil
- Sesame seed oil
- Hemp oil
Other healthy fats include:
- Avocado
- Olives
- Hemp Protein Powder
Nuts and seeds naturally contain all three macronutrients. See the list of nuts and seeds above.
Tip: Chocolate, whilst a processed food, has actually been linked to a reduced risk factor for heart disease and cognitive decline, due to its high level of flavonoids which, gram for gram, can go head to head with many berries. Not all chocolate is created equal though, aim for at least 70% dark chocolate.
Vegetables
All vegetables should be permitted in your program and the vast majority will have a negligible effect on blood sugar and will be interchangeable, you can consume extra vegetables on your meal plan as well as they are very low in calories.
Tip: There will be a natural variance as to how well different vegetables are tolerated, whilst they are ostensibly healthy, if they cause you gastrointestinal distress, you might want to limit or eliminate certain vegetables
Fruits
Fruits consumed in their natural form also have a lot of micronutrients and potential health benefits. I would suggest eating fruits more moderately than vegetables and, to make the best use of their sugar content, consume them pre- and post-workout, or when breaking your fast following exercise. Typically you’ll want to limit your intake of dried fruits as it can be quite easy to go overboard with the consumption, but a dried fig or two from time to time is excellent for digestion for example.
Tip: Berries are among the healthiest fruits from an antioxidant perspective, they are also really low glycemic index.
Comments
0 comments
Please sign in to leave a comment.