Day 9

Day 9

Today is just about the world “diet”. “Diet” is such a stupid word! I hate that word. It is the reason so many people don’t know how to eat properly! A diet is only what you eat. Diet has for so long taken on the context of what you eat in order to lose weight or to build lean muscle or to avoid those carbs and sugars that are so bad for your heart. Yuck! I don’t like diets! Don’t get on a diet. Don’t change your “diet”. Change your eating habits! Change the way you eat instead of the items you eat. I won’t dare bother with going into all the detail of telling you what’s good and bad for you, but I’ll shout out some quick pointers I’ve picked up over the years. Feel free to comment and ask me anything if you want more elaboration.

Avoid processed food as much as possible. This is the hardest one to do, but not impossible. To be honest, I certainly don’t adhere to this rule, but I wish I did. The less processed stuff you eat, the less MSG, the less preservatives, typically, the more natural and healthier it is.

Keep all of the food groups in your diet!!! Fats too! Carbs too! Healthy fats- nuts, avocado, oils, etc. Complex carbs- potato, vegetables, grains, etc. Avoid the obvious bad fats and simple carbs (sugars, sweets, candies, etc).

Protein and fat together or carbs and fats together, but not as much protein and carbs together. Steak and potatoes is really not the best for fat burning! Bummer if you ask me.

Carbs in the morning and proteins in the evening. Avoid eating within 2 hours of bed. Eat 5-6 small meals each day. Men usually eat around 2000 calories/day. Women eat about 1500 calories/day. This can vary quite a bit depending on your metabolic needs and if you are doing an extreme amount of exercise. However, most calorie burning does NOT happen in exercise!!! That’s right, an hour on the treadmill won’t do much good if you top it off with a candy bar or 2. Actually, cardio isn’t actually the best way to boost your metabolism, but I’ll save that for another day. I know, I just dropped a bomb, but I promise I’ll get to it later. (Quick glimpse, quick bursts/interval training is better for boosting metabolism and fat-burning than long cardio runs and bicycle rides.)

Fix what you take in your body will help with the rest. Spiritually, fix what you take in, God will take care of the rest. Just some food for thought (ha, pun), ever consider how the people you hang out with, the things you watch, or the music you listen to affect your actions and your personality. As a young guy, what does American Pie teach you about how to treat women as a Christian man? As a woman, what does “Sex and the City” (title should be a red flag) teach you about relationships and materialism? Are these things really healthy for your Spiritual Health, or are they that junk food that we’ve habitually gone to snack on just because it’s so easy to find in the pantry?