The "Smart" Diet (Food For Final Exams)

Well, final exams are over, and I don't like to brag, but I did quite well.  I believe such grades were earned, as I  studied hard and made sure to manage my time efficiently (or as efficiently as possible while still maintaining my sanity).  Yes, all in all, I'm quite pleased with my grades, and god does it feel good to be done with these piles of work.  It's as if all at once, the pressure's been lifted.  The lid's off the pressure cooker, ya know what I mean?

Anyway, before I start rambling, I'd like to bring up an important concept relating to my success in this year's final exams (and school year in general).  It's actually a concept I talk about quite frequently.  Could you guess what it might be?  If you said "food," or "diet," you're right.  I relate a lot of my success this year to my study habits, but feel that credit should also rest in what I've been putting in my belly.

How, you ask, does food have ANYTHING to do with academic success?  Well, unlike a lot of articles which just spout off fact after fact and tout study after craftily worded study, I'm just going to tell you about my personal experience.  I mean sure, I'll say that you'd be crazy not to think that food has an effect on your brain. Nutrient dense food does wonders for cognitive ability, leading to better memory, lower stress levels, and greater confidence.  Good food helps you stay happy, healthy, and ready to take on the world (or a nasty, brutally complicated exam).  This isn't any secret, yet so many people fail to accept the fact that a healthy diet can keep them successful when they need to be.

Did I personally do anything special to my diet in preparation for exam week?  Well, the changes I made weren't initially geared toward the exams themselves, however I soon realized that they worked great for cognitive ability as well as physical prowess.  You see, on my Olympic lifting training program, I work double sessions in the gym multiple times per week.  This week, being pretty much empty other than an 8 AM exam every morning, I decided I'd go even harder on the double sessions (as the only other thing I had to do each day was study.)  To support this brutal attack on my body, I made sure I was getting another hundred or so calories ON TOP of what I had already calculated to be a 200 calorie excess.  I've been stalling out recently on weight gain, so I figured it couldn't hurt anyway.  I made sure these calories came from clean sources such as almonds and egg whites, as well as a few more veggies on my plate.  So far, such diet programming has been working beautifully for my workouts, and I've been maintaining strength despite increasing squat volume considerably.

This caloric excess also did WONDERS for my level of alertness, stress (low), and energy.  That healthy food pushed me through extra study sessions as well as extra squats, and a hearty breakfast of oatmeal, whey, and peanut butter woke me up and got me going each and every morning.  To put it bluntly, I felt, and still feel GREAT!

And one more little nugget of useful information:  heavy brain work burns a lot of energy.  Yeah, you heard me right, you're burning more energy than you think just trying to remember that darn equation for energy stored in parallel inductors.  Ever feel drained after a big test?  Like it's time for a nap?  Well, you're drained because you've been working hard as heck.  The bottom line is, my body needed those extra QUALITY calories, especially this week, in the face of the final test of knowledge.

Note to students:  Those "care packages" or "study packs" your college offers to your parents to buy for you are full of absolute junk.  Dum-Dum lollipops will NOT help you pass that final, and will likely send you on an aggressive sugar roller coaster that will leave you either too hyper to think or too monotonous to care about which bubble you're filling out.  And all that chocolate?  It won't help your brain grow, but it sure will grow you out of those jeans.  

So what's my advice to you?  If you've got tests coming up, don't be afraid to eat hearty meals of clean food.  I would suggest heaps of complex carbs, as well as plenty of protein and fats from sources such as nuts, milk, and fish.  You do NOT need to be waking up a completely drained wreck, unable to focus and unable to think about anything but how hungry you are for lunch.  Keep yourself fed with "premium fuel," 'cause hey, you wouldn't put anything but the best in an expensive sports car right?  Your body is the fastest, sleekest, most valuable car you own.  Fuel it as best you can, and you'll not only see your lifts increase in the gym, but your grade point average climb as well.

Good luck on finals to all my fellow college students.  Eat well and let's start this summer right!!

Double Sessions: The How To Guide

As you probably already know, I LOVE the gym.  In fact, I love it so much, I'm usually there twice a day.  I'll go for a morning session, during which I do heavy squats and some core work, then head off to class.  The same afternoon I'll go for a full out Olympic weightlifting session as dictated by my coach, which is both brutal and heavy.  And you know what the remarkable thing is?  After all this, I'm still alive to tell you about it.  Fancy that, eh?  So how's it possible?  Could you do the same thing, but maybe taylored to your own goals a little more?  And if you're at all interested, how could going for two-sies really benefit you?  Let's find out.

First of all, I'd like to address those screaming their heads off right now at their computer monitor, claiming that I'm just begging to induce over-training or "burning-out," which is a state of extreme, chronic physical and mental fatigue caused by lifting too intensely at the gym.  To those people, I'd like to say that I believe you only overtrain if you go drastically above and beyond what you're currently doing.  If you are used to hitting the gym 3 times a week, for one hour sessions, then yes, if you decided to triple that and hit the gym 9 times a week for three double session days and 3 single session days, you'd burn out like a bad candle.  But that's a silly thing to try right off the bat, don't you think?  If you introduce new routines to your body more slowly and consistantly, anything is possible in the long run.  Remember this quote:

"There's no such thing as overtraining, just undertraining"

-John Broz

He's right you know.  The body is capable of far greater loads and stresses than you could ever imagine.  Tapping into the true potential of your body takes practice though, so let's find out how to increase your loading over an extended period of time, and figure out exactly how it could really benefit you in the long run.

If you're at all interested in training twice a day, you HAVE to start slow.  Like I said before, if you jump right into a double session week, you'll burn out in a heartbeat (or lack of one, because you'll be so dead.)  Take it one step at a time.  If your workouts are geared toward general fitness, and include both cardio and lifting weights, I'd suggest doing light cardio in the morning (I'd say 10-20 minutes, but your definition of light may differ), then have a good span of time between that and your evening workout, which should also be relatively light (in terms of weight this time.)  Try this one day a week, preferably a day you have free so that you can rest and recover between workouts.  And when I say rest, I MEAN REST.  Don't plan your family hike for that afternoon, just lay out in the sun, or go for a swim, or watch some TV, or take a nice long nap.  Recovery is just as important as the workout itself.  If you do it right, you should be ready to hit the gym again that evening.

If you're all cardio, it's a pretty simple setup to get two sessions into one day.  Start with a light jog in the morning, then later that evening hit a serious cardio session, like your timed run, biking trip, swim, etc.  Cardio is easy to overdo, but if you're serious about it your body should adapt quickly.  Keep carbohydrate levels very high, and make sure to take care of those joints (especially runners), because they can get very sore very quickly.  Stretch, ice, heat, foam roll, massage, do what you have to do to keep pounding the pavement.  Many runners go for double sessions, so finding one to talk to about it isn't too hard a task.  Look around, see what works for others, and try to incorporate their techniques into your workout.

For a bodybuilder, a double gym session is a GREAT way to increase volume on certain muscle groups.  If it's back and bicep day, you can hit one group of exercises in the morning for a moderate number of reps, then really finish those muscles off in the evening with a completely different routine, going all out.  Increasing workout volume is a fantastic way to gain size quickly, and I bet you'll be surprised at the results.  Don't be afraid to hit the same muscles twice in a day, they can take it as long as you supplement them properly.  If you're wondering exactly how to do this, I found a great post in the bodybuilding.com forums by username "labradarep" that explains the concept pretty well:

"Do the same bodypart(s) twice in a day. First session should be moderate number of sets in the 4-6 rep range. 2-3 exercises per bodypart(30-40 minutes max with 2 -3 minute rest periods). Rest 4-6 hours & then perform different exercises for the same bodyparts. 2-3 sets of 10-15 reps. 1 -2 exercises per bodypart (20 minute workout with very short rest periods)."

That in my opinion is the perfect way to ensure you don't overtrain, but still hit each muscle group for an AWESOME amount of volume.  Try it out, and watch all the other guys in the gym start to pale in comparison to your massive size and muscularity.

If you're a strength athelete, like me, and want to incorporate some morning and evening material into your workout, I'd suggest squats in the morning, and your full, organized workout in the afternoon (my "organized" workout involves the Olympic lifts themselves, just in case you're wondering what that means.  If you're a power lifter, it may include deadlifts, or bench press.  Strongman may include things like axle presses, farmer's walk, deadlifts, etc.)  Keep your body guessing, and do a workout that won't impact your body enormously for the day in the morning.  When I do my set of squats in the morning, I squat heavy, but for low reps, and with large rest periods in between sets, just to make sure I don't burn out or expend too much glycogen too early on in the day.  Keep it casual at first, go slow, and like I said, try one day at a time first.

When you start to adapt, obviously you can increase the frequency of these double sessions.  Add another one in three or four days later, basically in an attempt to split the week up as evenly as possible.  You don't want two days of double sessions in a row, at least not initially.  Don't increase the workout intensity just yet.  Personally I find that increasing frequency works much better than increasing intensity.  I do 3-4 double sessions a week, and NONE of the morning sessions are EVER as intense as my afternoon ones, purposely so.  Stay relaxed, focus on moving the weight, and keep yourself under wraps.  Remember, you've got another workout later where you can go all out.

Now, I forgot to mention one thing, and it's in regard to your diet.  Double days make you HUNGRY.  And if you decide to skip out on meals, or keep your calorie level the same thinking your body doesn't need the extra food, you're ABSOLUTELY NUTS.  YOU NEED TO EAT!!!!!  Plan on increasing caloric intake from between 300-500 calories on double days (and possibly the day after), and when you start adding more and more double sessions, you have to consistently keep your body fueled.  If you don't, you'll feel it, IMMEDIATELY.  You'll feel like a zombie amongst the living.  You'll be sore, unable to focus, drained, and barely able to move weights you practically tossed up before.  Eat...more...food.  I've found increasing carbohydrate intake works wonders.  Have a sweet potato and a glass of milk, or a bowl of oatmeal and a whey and banana shake.  No matter if you're a cardio-aholic, bodybuilder, or strength athlete, keep your body fueled, and you'll start to see the double sessions work wonders for your body.

If at any point in the week you begin to burn out, BACK OFF THE DOUBLE SESSIONS.  Seriously, eat some food, get some good sleep, and rest until you feel like you can hit the gym that hard again.  Double days take a lot out of you, so don't be surprised if the adjustment process is long.  Don't rush it.  

Basically, to be successful with double sessions, it all boils down to two things:  Eat more, and sleep more.  Keep your diet clean and VERY full, and your bedtime early and consistent, and you'll find hitting the gym twice a day isn't so bad.  I love it, and if I could set up a cot in the corner, I'd probably be in the gym all day.  So to all my fellow gym lovers, rejoice, if you want to spend even more time pumping the iron or sprinting to nowhere, you're more than welcome to.  In fact, it can do wonders for your strength and physique.  You'll get leaner, stronger, faster, bigger, and more powerful faster than you ever thought possible.  So what are you waiting for?  The gym beckons.

Lift hard, run fast, eat big, sleep deeply, and as always, GOOD LUCK!

Enjoying Health and Fitness

Today I'd like to cover a topic that you'd think would be a no-brainer when it comes to health and fitness, yet for some reason it always gets pushed to the back of people's minds.  It's like there's this evil aura that surrounds the health field, one that people believe they must live within and constantly ward off in order to achieve any REAL results.  But there I go with my wordiness again.  What I'm really saying is:  many people believe that in order to be lean, fit, strong and healthy, they must also be miserable.

Wait...what?  Isn't the whole point of being healthy to feel BETTER about yourself, your diet, and your overall physical and mental image?  Well, yeah, I think so.  But every day I see people at the gym, young and old, who are in torture, hating every second they're on that treadmill, despising every rep on that stupid chest press machine.  They go to the gym to leave the gym, and to say to anyone else that they WENT to the gym.  That's about it.  They eat healthy to say they eat healthy, not because they like eating healthy.  I hate to watch people choke down things they hate just because they think that's the only way to do it.  It's saddening, depressing, and makes me wonder what the health and fitness world is really coming to.

Listen:  in order to be successful, YOU HAVE TO ENJOY WHAT YOU DO!  Do you think you'll make any real progress in the gym if you hate its guts?  No, because subconsciously on every rep you'll cheat yourself, you'll work slower than you could, lighter than you could, and for shorter amounts of time than you are really capable of.  You'll never push yourself to your limits, because that's not where your mind is at.  You'll instead be thinking about how much you hate this place and can't wait to leave.  If your head's not in the game, you're not going to give it your all, and you're NOT going to see the results you really want.

Same thing goes with diet.  Sure, anyone can scarf down a salad, but if you hate everything that's on it, how likely is it that you can make that salad something permanent?  More likely in a week or two (or if you've got more dedication it can take a while longer, a month or year perhaps), you'll switch back to a couple slices of pizza for lunch, followed by a cookie, or whatever.  That healthy stuff will be far behind you.  If you don't like the food you eat, you won't keep eating it.

So the big question is, how do you ensure that going to the gym and eating healthy become enjoyable things?  That, my friends, is a GREAT question.  And unfortunately I can't give you any super solid answer, BUT I can give you some pretty darn helpful guidelines.  The gym's the easy part, I almost guarantee you I could find a way that would make you love to come each day.  Here are a few suggestions:

Find Lifts You Like:  This may sound stupid, but everyone has certain muscles that feel GOOD to push hard, and work to their limits.  I can't tell you exactly which muscles, because everyone is different.  I enjoy squats (as you can probably tell by now).  They make me feel strong, do my body a hell of a lot of good, and feel GREAT to get right.  Yes, they feel good, I'm not lying to you.  So there's your first tip.  Throughout the week try to work different muscles in different ways, and more than likely you'll find an exercise that makes you feel like a real beast.  No, you can't only work that muscle, but hey, it gives you something to look forward to throughout your workout week, and it's not like there will be only one muscle you like working.  More than likely you'll find a lift every day that you can at least be content to push hard on.  You'll teach your body how to more effectively target muscles, and more than likely more and more lifts will start feeling easier and more fun.  Awesome!

Relieving the Pain of Cardio:  OK, I'm with you on this one, I HATE CARDIO.  Luckily, as a weightlifter, I barely do any =].  But do as I say, not as I do.  Unless you're specializing in a weight related sport, cardio is very important.  And yes, it sucks.  I jogged for many years, and struggled to find enjoyable things about it.  But it IS possible.  What I've found is that once you hit a good pace, and your body equilibrates to the run, you don't feel so bad.  So my first tip is, if cardio is killing you in the first couple minutes, wait a few more, it'll stop hurting so much.

-Second tip?  Make it interesting.  Run a new route every day, or have a good set of running routes that you can cycle depending on how you feel and what you're in the mood for that particular day.  Also, I found that running "down and back" was quite depressing, because when you got to the turnaround point you knew you still had that whole damn stretch you just ran left.  My suggestion is to have someone pick you up at the end of your run, so you'll constantly be treading new ground, and things don't get repetitive.

-Third tip?  Make it even MORE interesting.  And by this I mean, vary the pace.  Like I said before, I'm a firm believer in high intensity interval training (HIIT).  Jog for a minute, sprint for 15 seconds, then jog again. It feels great to push yourself when you're sprinting (no I'm not lying, it does feel good, try it out) and it makes your run go by a lot quicker.  You'll also get awesome results.

-Fourth tip?  Do cardio with a friend.  My runs with friends were SO much more enjoyable than alone, and the constant distraction removes the feeling of monotony and fatigue.  It can be fun to run/bike/walk with others, and more likely you'll push yourself harder and be able to go for longer periods of time.  So buddy up and DO IT!

Get With The Program:  There are all sorts of other things that can help the gym become a place of new excitement.  I personally love setting new records, and that's what keeps me coming back 6-7 days a week. I LOVE IT.  Weightlifting is my thing, and hey, if you're interested in it then I suggest finding a weightlifting club near you to try it out.  You might love it just as much as I do.

And that's my final tip.  Find a program you like.  I like weightlifting.  You might like gymnastics, or Zumba, or group cardio, or salsa dancing, or spinning classes, or bodybuilding clubs, or WHATEVER!  Join up with someone or something and hit it hard!  You'll be surprised at how much fun the gym can be.

Now, onto dieting tips.  I know people take diets quite seriously, so I'm hoping these can really alleviate a lot of diet depression.  Don't get stuck with food you hate and end up chucking any chances of success out the window after a few weeks.  Read these tips and see if you can try a few out ASAP:

TRY LOTS OF FOOD:  Some people think that healthy foods are few and far between.  WRONG!  There are thousands and thousands and THOUSANDS of healthy foods out there, waiting to be cooked up and eaten by anyone who cares to.  Fruits, veggies, carbs, proteins, fats, they're all there, and there's such a huge spectrum that I can 99.9% guarantee you will find a few foods in it that you will wholeheartedly enjoy.  Don't like that salad with carrot shavings you brought for lunch?  Fine, bring some chicken breast, apple slices and whole wheat bread with skim milk tomorrow.  Didn't like it? (seriously?)  Well then, tomorrow bring some shrimp, a portobello mushroom, and maybe an orange or banana.  Still no?  (wow...) Make yourself up a peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread with natural peanut butter, and have some cooked peas and carrots on the side, or if you want something sweeter bring some fresh strawberries.

You see?  There are so many options, you don't have any excuse to say you hate all healthy food.  Read my other articles, find some foods you like, and try them.  Then, once you do, find a few more, and start constructing a diet you can't wait to eat.  I love what I eat, and it's a very clean diet.  I don't feel deprived, depressed, or crave crappy food (and this is coming from a guy who once ate pizza and brownies for breakfast.)

TRY LOTS OF RECIPES:  Same concept here.  Maybe simple food doesn't quite float your boat yet (it will eventually, if you keep at it.)  Until then, try a few complex, healthy recipes.  Grill up some fish and garnish it with vinaigrette and a few herbs, or make a healthy bean salad with salsa and corn, or bake some chicken with a coating of nice spices.  There are millions of healthy recipes out there, all ready to lose you some fat and build you some muscle.  Just do a little searching.  I have all sorts of recipes posted already, search through those as a start!  Don't be lazy, just spend some time making some awesome food and I bet pretty soon "healthy meal" will be your middle name.

Teach Yourself:  This one may not seem like quite as much fun, but it's quite valuable in the long run.  The basic concept being if you don't like a certain food, but know it's really good for you, give it one more try, and try to appreciate certain things about it.  Like I've said in previous articles, our taste buds are EXTREMELY adaptable, and can learn to enjoy just about anything.  I used to hate olives, but kept trying them.  I now enjoy them on every salad I have, and look forward to their powerful flavor.  Have an open mind, and tell yourself that you WILL like the food you're about to eat.  Your brain is powerful, and can do amazing things for you, including make an extremely healthy meal quite palatable.  Once you like the foods that you used to hate, it'll be a lot easier to keep eating them, right?


So there you have it, a few tips to make sure that you can actually enjoy a lifestyle of health and fitness, and in turn, strength, beauty and longevity.  Ah....doesn't that sound nice?  Don't be afraid to change up your routines, your diets, and your overall attempts at health multiple times until you start to find bits and pieces that you really enjoy and can fasten together into a healthier lifestyle.  Keep exploring, don't get stuck in a rut.  There are healthy things out there for everyone!

Keep it fresh, have an open mind, and this time especially...GOOD LUCK!!!!

Train Those Triceps

I bet you've seen them all too often in that gym.  The curl monkeys.  You know, they're the ones near the dumbbells, curling the heck out of any weight they can handle before eventually tiring out and slamming the thing on the floor.  They'll then make their way to the preacher curl station, and go nuts on that.  They might even do the unthinkable, and curl the bar inside the squat rack (the gym's biggest sin).  And just when you think they've done enough biceps, they hit a few poses in the mirror, and get the heck out of there.  What did you just witness?  A gym failure due to improper knowledge of workout techniques and muscle anatomy.

Sure, obviously there's merit in training your biceps.  They need attention, and without proper exercise you won't get the giant guns you've always wanted, and won't be able to hand out those tickets to random girlies (tickets to what?  Why the GUN show of course!!!)  But if you want big arms, overtraining your biceps isn't the way to go.  In fact, you may be hampering your progress.  If you want big, rippling arms like tree trunks, TRAIN YOUR TRICEPS.  In fact, you might want to pay a little more attention to your triceps than your biceps.  Why's that?  Let's discuss!

(by the way, did you know that the words "triceps" and "biceps" are both the singular AND the plural versions?  Even the singular terms have an "s" on the end!  Leave it to latin...)

The biceps is a muscle defined by two distinct heads ("bi"..."cep"...that's Latin for "two, heads.") Your triceps, that muscle on the and side of your arm, has, you guessed it, three heads.  They can be defined further as the lateral head, long head, and medial head.

Check out the left-hand figure, it shows the different triceps heads

If you study the picture, and flex your triceps, I bet you can find all three heads on the muscle, or at least get a general sense as to where they are.  Different triceps exercises work somewhat different heads, though it's very difficult to isolate just one (muscles are good at working together).  But still, why would it do you good to pay a LOT of attention to those muscles that you can't even really see?

Well, guess what.  Your triceps are actually 2/3 OF YOUR ARM!  That's right, getting big triceps is a much faster route to building big arms than big biceps.  In fact, if you look closely enough at many pictures of bodybuilders and strength athletes, their biceps might seem pretty small in comparison to their massive triceps jutting underneath those ungodly giant arms.

See what I mean about the size difference between these two muscles?

Ok so now you get it, right?  Triceps are what really give those arms the mass you want.  But how should you go about training them?  Well, the sets x reps scheme for training triceps is up to much debate, but I can't really see how a beginner could go wrong with three to four exercises, each one 3 sets of 5-10 reps.  Certain exercises are better off 5x5-10, but I'll leave the research up to you.  I can give you a few of my favorite triceps exercises though!

Skull Crushers- A real killer when it comes to nailing the backs of those beastly arms.  This exercise involves taking a dumbell and laying flat on a bench.  Hold the dumbbell straight up with your arms, and get set for an exercise that you DON'T wanna mess up.  Slowly bring the bar down to to your forehead, bending only at your elbows and keeping your upper arms (biceps and triceps) completely perpendicular to the bench.  Keep those elbows in tight!  Press back up with your triceps when you reach your...you guessed it...SKULL...and repeat.  Make sure you have a strong grip with this exercise, and don't be afraid to start relatively light.  You'll learn quickly what kind of weight you feel comfortable handling.

(The skull crushers start at 2:15)

Triceps Rope Pushdowns-  This one is pretty simple, yet can still be done improperly if you're not careful.  It involves a cable pull down machine complete with a rope attachment that most gyms possess.  You want to grip both ends of the rope firmly, stand close to the rope itself, and extend only with your tricpes, keeping back and legs fully locked.  You can flare the ropes out at the bottom for an extra triceps burn if you wish.

Diamond Push-ups-  These are killer!  Basically the normal pushup's evil twin.  Firstly, kneel down on the floor, and place your hands together so that your two index fingers and thumbs make a "diamond" shape (like on the playing card).  Next, put your palms flat on the floor with your hands still in this position.  Get into a good push-up start position, making sure the spade is centered under your chest.  And the next step?  DO PUSH-UPS!  Keep your elbows VERY tight into your body for the best triceps workout, and don't be discouraged if these are extremely hard at first.  They're probably the greatest body weight exercise for triceps I know of.  

Body-weight/ Weighted Dips:  This involves those two random handles that you may see in your gym, jutting out from some pull up bar/roman chair/dip machine hybrid.  I think you'll know what I'm talking about when you see the video.  Anyway, this exercise is pretty simple, but is yet another absolute killer with just body weight.  Step up to the two handles, place a hand on each, and push yourself up so that you're held in place in air by your locked out arms.  Slowly "dip" between the handles, bending at the elbows, and upon reaching a bottom position of choice (don't go too low at first, you might not have the flexibility), push back up with your triceps muscles.  When you get really good at these, you can add weight like the guy in the video, however I strongly suggest starting only with body weight.  

If you're still not quite strong enough to do body weight (don't be ashamed, this is a very difficult exercise), check out the second video, which shows chair dips, where the same action is performed except your feet are now suspended on something.  These are much easier to start out with, and a great first step toward body weight dips.  

(Suspended Dips)

(Chair Dips)

There's a good start to any respectable triceps workout.  Get to the gym and stop neglecting those powerful muscles on the backs of your arms.  They actually have the potential to be much stronger than your biceps, but they won't be if you ignore them!  

Train them hard, build massive arms, and as always, GOOD LUCK!

The Light Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving break was, to say the least, incredible.  The food was out of this world, as usual, and completely home cooked by my grandmother.  I'm guessing many of you had similar situations at your own homes, complete with delicious turkey and yummy stuffing and mashed potatoes to go along with it all.  And how could I forget the cranberry sauce?  And the pumpkin pie?  Yes, the delicious food was plentiful, as it should be on Thanksgiving day.

And I'm guessing some of you may feel pretty guilty after Thanksgiving, having gorged yourself as is custom on that holiday.  Maybe the diet went out the window, but got thrown a little too far.  Maybe a lot of you are upset you ate too much, and feel like you can't control yourself on days like these, where the whole family sits down and chows down.  How can one avoid overeating on such an important, enormous, delicious meal?  With Christmas right around the corner, and more fantastic holiday dinners, I think a few tips about controlling appetite are in order.  Fear not, eating in moderation is quite easy, even on the holidays!

First of all, don't stress about one night of rather large eating.  It happens to the best of us, and if you can hop right back on your diet the day afterwards, you'll be absolutely fine and see no difference in your results.  Sometimes it's just better to wake up the next day and forget it even happened.  A week from now that meal won't have even mattered.  Enjoy special dinners like Thanksgiving, don't be afraid of them.  

That being said, if you'd still like to make sure you don't go on an all out binge, here are a few tips that I PERSONALLY followed on Thanksgiving day in an attempt to enjoy the food, but in a healthy moderation:

Eat a light (but filling) breakfast and lunch:  Choose foods that have high nutrient content, but are relatively low calorie.  For breakfast I had a bowl of total cereal and a large pear, both foods that are extremely filling but very low calorie when they're not overdone.  For lunch, I had 8 shrimp (about 80 calories), raw broccoli and carrots, and some plain packaged salmon.  All in all it was less than a 500 calorie meal, but very filling.  

Keep snacking light to stay full:  I had several snacks throughout the day, including a few clementines (between 20-40 calories a piece) and another package of salmon (90 calories).  I also had some raw snap peas every now and then, as well as a few roasted chickpeas.  It's all about subduing your appetite without adding on too many calories.  DON'T STARVE YOURSELF TO SAVE CALORIES.  You'll only be hungrier by the time dinner comes around, and will almost certainly end up eating more.  

Drink LOTS of water:  I had at least a full glass of water with every meal and snack, which helped to keep me full.  But the real power of water comes in right before Thanksgiving dinner itself.  If you want to take a LOT of the hungry edge off, have 1-3 full glasses of water right before your dinner.  I had three, and my normally ravenous appetite was completely tamed. Because of this it was quite easy to enjoy the food in smaller quantities.  

Moderation at the table:  Like I've said before, enjoy IN MODERATION.  You can have a little bit of everything, but if you want to keep the calories low, don't take too much.  Take just a mouthful or two of things like stuffing and mashed potatoes, and if you want to load up on something make it the delicious steamed veggies.  Choose the whitest turkey meat you can find, and use just a dab of cranberry sauce.  If there are sweet potatoes served, choose those over mashed white potatoes.  Oh, and definitely try to avoid most of the sauces, like mounds of gravy and butter.  Those will just add a whole bunch of empty calories.

  

It's very possible to have a full plate without going crazy on the calories.  

Dessert:  This one's up to you.  I didn't have dessert, but I usually don't, so I'm very used to skipping it.  If you really want to taste that pumpkin or pecan pie, take half of a normal slice, and only go for the other half if you feel you REALLY need it.  Eat slowly, enjoy the rich flavor, don't hork it and go for more.  Make it a challenge to see how much you can enjoy a moderate portion of food.  If you finish it, distract yourself.  Talk with your family for a few minutes, have a sip of water, just wait.  I bet in a few minutes you won't even want more.  

There you have it, tips for Thanksgiving that can be applied to most any big holiday dinner.  Again, I can't stress enough that it's easy to enjoy such a delicious dinner WITHOUT going overboard.  Try it out, you'll be very proud of yourself if you can end up succeeding (and I know you can, these things aren't rocket science.)  

Happy Holidays, Keep those dinners rolling, and as always, good luck!

Transforming Taste Buds

If you're like a lot of people, I can talk about healthy foods all day and you'll still imagine a nasty taste in your head.  What's he talking about, tomatoes tasting good?  Butternut Squash being absolutely delectable?  Steamed broccoli and cauliflower hitting the spot?  It may be completely foreign to imagine such natural, raw, bland foods to taste so good.  You'd much rather stick with your heavily spiced up food with sugar and salt, because that actually tastes like something!  But I emplore you, give these more natural foods a chance.  I can 100% guarantee that through a little bit of practice, you can make those foods taste as good as I think they do.

So what are you doing wrong?  Nothing really, it's just the habits you've been supporting.  You may eat the processed  overly sweet stuff on a regular basis.  So guess what?  You've come to accept it as the norm.  If you think that chocolate cake tastes sweet, think of how it tastes to me, someone with a very low sugar diet.  Think of it like, albeit a little depressing, a drug addiction.  You've become addicted to food that packs an extremely powerful sodium, sugar, and fatty punch.  All three of those things taste great to you because your instinct is to consume things that your body can run on for long periods of time and give great energy (fat and sugar.)  Your body doesn't really know any better that that mayonnaise smothered quizno's sub is wayyy overkill.  Yup, it's an addiction of sorts, so like a powerful drug addiction, anything less potent won't get you that "high."

How can you break the addiction?  Well, like anything, it takes time.  First things first, DO NOT GO COLD TURKEY.  An extremely raw veggie, plain meat, clean diet will absolutely kill you if you try to switch all at once.  Your food won't taste like anything, and you'll give up in a couple days, maybe a couple weeks at most. Your taste buds are extremely adaptable, but only if you introduce new flavors slowly.  There's a reason why we learn to accept new tastes as we get older.  Children don't often like vegetables, but grow into the taste (or maybe they don't, as is the case with many adults I know.)  

In my personal opinion, there isn't much of an excuse not to like healthy food.  If you say it doesn't taste good, you usually either haven't given it enough of a chance, or haven't cooked it right.  Some foods may take 9 or more tries before you really start to appreciate them.  

Try these tips to slowly get yourself into eating healthier:

Mix veggies into food you already like:  Who doesn't like macaroni and cheese?  Or maybe a big heaping pot of beef stroganoff, or a plate of crispy nachos?  What these all represent are prime opportunities to start mixing vegetable flavors into already delicious foods.  Try some diced tomatoes on those nachos, or some broccoli in that cheesy mac and cheese.  Put some carrots or onions in that beef stroganoff.  Heck, if you're having a big ol' burger, put a couple more slices of tomato on it than you normally do, and maybe another piece of lettuce.  Slowly pull those natural tastes into your diet, just a little at a time.  Each time you do it, maybe take out a little of the main flavoring (and probably unhealthy) ingredient.  Add a little less salt in your food, put only a tiny skim of mayonnaise on that burger, use a little less cheese in that macaroni.  Try to emphasize the vegetable taste just a little more each time. 

Vegetable side dishes:  Don't do these plain at first, use some kind of a healthy additive.  Saute your veggies in a tasty oil, or spread a little salsa on them.  Sprinkle some cayenne pepper on them for quite a kick, or just regular black pepper might do as well.  Try to use frozen veggies, or the ones that steam in the bag.  Canned usually has a little too much sodium, and they don't taste as good anyway.  At first, steam your veggies pretty aggressively.  Make them soft, chew-able, so they melt in your mouth a little easier and don't fight back with a harsh crunch.  And try to put at least a few on your plate at every dinner.  You don't even have to eat them all.  If they're there, you're more likely to at least give them a shot.

Less sauce on the meat:  This one's pretty self explanatory.  If you put BBQ sauce on your chicken, next time you have the chicken make a conscious effort to maybe put about a third less sauce on the next time.  Then a little less the next time after that.  You don't ever have to completely get rid of it if you don't want to, but try to emphasize the flavors of the meat above the sauce.  Another good idea is to have sauce every other or every third time you have the meat, as a rare treat.  I bet this'll make it taste better anyway, and you won't take that BBQ sauce for granted.  

Cook meat with care:  If you're going to put less sauce on, you might as well try a little harder to cook that chicken so its as tender and delectable as possible.  Make your dinner meats taste great by themselves, and you'll be less likely to top them with all sorts of crazy, unhealthy toppings.

Replace your snacks:  I've mentioned this one a few times.  To help your taste buds to adjust a little quicker, try replacing your afternoon potato chips with a banana, or a bowl of strawberries, or an apple.  Fruit is sweet, so you'll still get that sweet tooth satisfied.  It's also more satiating, so you'll be less likely to eat as much.  Just replace one snack at a time.  Take it slow.

Drink the pure stuff:  There is a LOAD of sugar in most soda, and believe me a glass of mountain dew will NOT help break your sugar addiction.  I suggest drinking more water, or maybe a glass of milk, or 100% juice.  Try your best to get those soft drinks out of your diet though.  Soda doesn't help anything, of that I can assure you.  If you're dying for a sugary drink, try a zero calorie drink sweetener.  

To close this article, I'm going to say this one more time.  To break a processed food/sugar addiction, you need to do it gradually.  If you do, your taste buds WILL adapt.  Give them time, and don't give up.  The younger you are, the faster it will happen.  Set goals for yourself.  Try a few more veggies every meal.  A little less ketchup, a few less potato chips, maybe fruit for dessert a few nights a week.  MAKE IT HAPPEN!!!!

Don't give up, you will adjust, and you'll be incredibly grateful that you did.  It's fun to watch someone wince as you munch on a tomato in absolute and genuine happiness.  Good Luck!