While I was writing this post, Lauren was making me a nice salad for lunch.  Here it is almost done – less the protein which I’ll add when I’m ready to eat it

Sometimes when I”m writing stuff, whether it is.a new blog post like this one or something in a new program or challenge, I leave out a few details.

A very common question is “Ok, you’ve told me what to eat, but how much food should I have?”

So I”m going to answer that very questions here.  But first we’ll go over the WHAT to eat first for those that haven’t learnt that already or are new to my ramblings.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS GUIDE IS A STARTING POINT FOR MOST FEMALE READERS AGED BETWEEN ABOUT 18 – 60.

I’ve made notes for changes for most men between the same ages.   Kids will vary and should eat the same kinds of foods, but pretty much self select their serving sizes.  This actually works fo children that are eating the right kinds of foods.

I am more than happy to help you to tweak this for yourself if you think it is not working for you.  Please try it first, for at least a month before telling me it doesn’t work for you.

WHAT FOODS SHOULD I EAT THEN?

Okay, I”m predicting that many of you skipped the above section, so please take a moment to read it before proceeding if that’s the case.

The following is NOT an exhaustive list, but you should be able to tell if the food you’re thinking about is not listed, whether it would fit into the lists easily or if you’re just kidding yourself about placing into one of the following categories.

Each meal and snack you eat each day (3-5 times per day) should consist of the following.

Choose a healthy protein and lots of Low Energy Carbs in every meal or snack.   Once per day add one choice from the High Energy Carb list and twice per day include something from the Healthy Fats list.

HEALTHY PROTEINS

Chicken and other poultry

Fish

Beef

Lamb

Pork

Seafood (not crumbed or battered)

All game

Eggs

Cottage Cheese

LOW ENERGY CARBOHYDRATES

All fibrous vegetables and most fruits

All greens

broccoli and cauliflower

snow peas

capsicum

zucchini

cucumber

green beans

onions

tomatoes

mushrooms

celery and radish

Most fruits except those in High Energy  carbs list

Plain Natural or Greek Yoghurt

HEALTHY FATS

Almonds

Walnuts

Macedamiaas

Avocado

Coconut Oil

Olive Oil

Flaxseed Oil

HIGH ENERGY CARBOHYDRATES

All potatoes – yes even sweet ones

Bananas and grapes

Rice

Pasta

Breads, wraps and other bread stuff even if it’s made from some kind of sprouted grain or anything else ‘trendy’

Baked goods

Pastries

Biscuits, cakes,

Lollies and chocolate – all sweets really

Flavoured yoghurts

All soft drinks, sports drinks, cordials etc

Fruit juiices

As I mentioned above, this list doesn’t include all the veggies available to you, just some examples and likewise for the other categories.  From this list though you should be able to see where YOUR chosen food fits if not listed

NOW I KNOW WHAT TO EAT,  BUT HOW MUCH?

Remember that this is s starting point for most females with the amounts for most adult males in (brackets)

PROTEIN – one serve is approx.  100-150g of lean uncooked weight  or 2 eggs.  The leaner the meat, the higher you can go to the 150g.  So white fish would be 150g, but beef may be closer to 100g.

Eat 4-5 serves (approx 7-8 for men)  per day spread over your 3-5 meals.  Try to vary the protein sources you eat for a bigger nutrient hit.  Once per day maximum you could substitute a protein supplement if you really need to.  I don’t and don’t recommend this because of the low nutrient value (don’t believe the hype on the label)

LOW ENERGY CARBOHYDRATES – One serve is a large handful or about a cup of chopped (100g of the plain yoghurt).   You can pretty much eat these unlimited and should do so.   THE ONLY ONES I’D LIMIT ARE FRUITS  and I’d stick to 1-2 serves per day IF you’re carrying excess body fat. And dairy.  Stick to one serve of dairy per day.   Those on maintenance level can eat more fruit if they like, just be aware of sugar content.

Serving sizes are same for men.  That is, EVERYONE should aim for 8-10 serves per day from this list.    I recommend to client that they try to eat vegetables at breakfast, lunch and tea.   And I have recipes and easy ways to do this built into my programs.  And no, it’s not juicing!!

HEALTHY FATS – A serving size varies a little here, but a basic guide is 1 tablespoon of oil, about 8-12 nuts or about 1/4-1/3 of an avocado depending on size.

Add 2 serves (4 for men) of healthy fats to your plan each day.  Be aware how much you’re adding in recipes and for cooking.  If its tiny amounts, that’s ok, but I you use a lot of oil or add dressings etc, you need to count those.  Over a day, these incidental bits could add up to 1-2 serves on their own

If you do use dressings, it is best to make your own so you can make them with healthy fat choices and therefore get the nutrients you need from them.  If you use purchased ones, you’ll be using up your fat serves, but not getting high nutrient value in those serves.  I have lots of recipes for sauces and dressing made from healthy ingredients

Any time you add nuts, oils, avocado or have oily fish, you need to remember that you’re having fats.   While we absolutely want to include healthy fats every single day, we also need to be aware that fats are high in calories in and need to be used carefully.

HIGH ENERGY CARBOHYDRATES– A serving size is about 1 small potato, 1/4 cup cooked rice or pasta, 1 slice of bread or 1 medium wrap and equivalent.

You’ll have 1 serve of these types of foods per day (2-4 for men).  If you train or are very active, you can include 1 extra serve per 60 minutes of medium to hard intensity training.

So you don’ get an extra one because you went for a walk, a short jog, an easy swim, played with the kids or attended an exercise class of any kind where you didn’t get out of breath and/or a good sweat up.  

High Energy carbs are the easiest to over-eat after fats.  Most of your favourie treats and foods are in this list and probably shouldn’t be included at all – think pies, ice cream chocolate, donuts, cakes, lattes, cappuccinos. milks, sweets and other baked foods.

These foods are TREATS and if you’re serious about losing that excess body fat and really being healthy, you need to limit them to 1-2 small serves per week maximum.

I can’t sugar coat this at all.  If you eat crap, don’t expect good results.

And also don’t expect to see results if you’re making these TREAT foods from so-called healthy ingredients and eating them more than 1-2 times per week also.

While cakes made with coconut flour, nut meal and coconut oil may be less ‘unhealthy’ than traditional products, they are still incredibly high in calories (in most cases more so than the original product) and WILL MAKE YOU FAT and stop you losing excess fat.

I already wrote a post outlining a sample of what I may eat in a typical day.  You can find that here to save me repeating myself  WHAT DOES JO EAT?

Here’s another example. Remember this is for the average adult female.  Men should double the protein portion in 3 meals per day and also add at least one  more High Energy Carb serve.  They should also eat 4 healthy fat serves per day or double the 2 I’ve put here.

BREAKFAST

2 eggs

1 toast

mushrooms

tomato

capscium

LUNCH

120 gLeft over chicken from last night

Sliced thorugh large salad of:

rocket, spinach, snow peas, green beans, capscium and cucumber

1/4 avocado

SNACK

100g plain greek yoghurt

1 punnet of raspberries

10 almonds

TEA

One of my chicken or fish dishes (approx 120g of meat)

Massive stir fry of broccoli, cauli, capscium, pineapple, carrots and green beans

1/4 cup cooked rice if I trained today

I hope that helps to clear up the confusion about a long-term healthy diet that gets results.

To find out how to actually put this into place using healthy recipes all supplied, subscribe to my newsletter.

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