Diet + Exercise with Brandon K. Cole: Part 4

Welcome to the final post of Diet + Exercise!

So if you’ve decided to follow my plan I posted last week, then you should be finishing up Week 1 of my first challenge: Take a multi-vitamin and make sure to drink lots of water. How did you do? With the multi-vitamin, you’re not going to notice any immediate differences, however, your body is now getting replenished with nutrients it might not have had before. If you drank more water, you might have noticed more supple skin, less headaches, and a few more trips to the bathroom. Ha!

Take a look at weeks 5-10 to start planning for your health plan evolution.

(Workout wear pants from AlbionFit)

Weeks 5-6

WHAT: Eat 5 servings of fruits and veggies every day. That’s right, every day.

WHY: Because your mother told you so. Also if you’re eating more whole fruits and veggies every day, you’re probably eating less junk. Don’t know what a serving is? That’s ok, most people don’t. The good thing is that if you overeat your fruits in veggies, you’re not making a big dent in the calorie department, and you’re filling up on the good stuff anyway.

Precision Nutrition uses a handy guide to show you what an individual serving looks like:

For men Precision Nutrition\Men Calorie Control Guide.pdf

For women Precision Nutrition\Women Calorie Control Guide.pdf

Weeks 7-8

WHAT: Eat one serving of protein with every meal. Examples are lean meats, fish, eggs, yogurt, dairy, or a protein supplement.

WHY: Having good quality protein with every meal helps you feel more satiated, and curbs appetite between meals. Protein also supports your metabolism and immune system, and is vital for the repair and generation of every tissue in the body. At the end of the day, protein helps you maintain and build muscle, which means you’ll be that much stronger during your next work out. There are lot of myths about protein that I won’t get into, but let’s just say consuming protein doesn’t automatically turn you into a muscled up beast (although there’s a lot of guys that wish that were true). Unless you’ve got a kidney issue, it’s probably not harmful or unhealthy either. You can use the Calorie Control Guide from above for measuring what a serving is for yourself.

Weeks 9-10

WHAT: Sleep at least 7 hours every night.

WHY: What does sleep have to do with weight control and diet? Way more than you realize! I think we all can recognize when we’re sleep deprived. Our bodies feel sluggish and we make all kinds of mental errors. Those lapses in judgment can sometimes come in the way of poor food choices. Fun fact: did you know that our willpower is more like a muscle than a static trait? Meaning willpower actually gets fatigued and weakened by using it throughout the day. So when you’re resisting the strong urge to tell that loud guy on the phone in the elevator to be quiet, you’re actually tapping into your willpower resources. By the end of the day this pool is almost empty, which makes it more likely you’ll blow off working out to stay in and order pizza. Worst yet, when you’re low on sleep, you’re starting the day with almost zero willpower in the tank.

Brain stimuli research shows that when you’re sleep deprived by even a little, your brain literally craves sugary foods. It’s kind of inconvenient and those smart scientists aren’t exactly sure why, but it probably has to do with the fact sugar is a cheap and quick fuel source for your brain. Your brain recharges during sleep. So without enough peaceful slumber, it needs to get its energy from somewhere. Donuts to the rescue! Good for your brain, bad for your belly.

BONUS: This is a presentation by founder and CEO of Precision Nutrition, Dr. John Berardi. He talks about what the best diet is in his opinion. The answer all of us have been searching for, right? I think you’ll be pretty surprised by his answer.

Best Diet Seminar —http://www.precisionnutrition.com/cmd.php?af=1546374&u=www.precisionnutrition.com/best-diet-free-seminar

This should get you started on the right track. Believe it or not if you do all of these things, you’ll probably be in better shape and health than the majority of the population. They seem simple but these are the kinds of habits almost all healthy and fit people start with. They should come naturally. Once you’ve mastered all of these, which may take months, you’ll have a lifetime to tweak other things here and there for even better results.

Check more out about Brandon: www.BKCFitness.com