ch-EAT-ting Strategies

Ring Dips ROCK...squats do NOT!

As we journey on to ELITE FITness, we can never expect perfection. We can demand chasing perfection tho;-) Here is some strategies to help when you want get off track for a bit and go off roading but not crazy.

Developing a routine and healthy habits at home is not usually the problem, it's we we go out to eat that is the problem. I love to go out to eat and hang with friends just as much as anyone. Here are some ch-EAT-ing strategies to help:


-Limiting portion in advance: My weakness is chips and salsa. Every time I go to a Mexican joint, those are my kryptonite, and like with any indulge it is best to moderate. When I'm a good boy, I grab a desired, yet deceit, amount of chips and make sure that's all I grab. Limiting portions in advance does not allow you to 'have an out', brain fart, or have great conversation and not notice and you have just eaten 387 chips!


-The more good food you eat, the less bad food you eat: This one is as simple as it sounds. If you still want fries, chips, other bad sides, or desserts; load up on your meal with the goods (meat/protein and veggies) until you are full. Then you are more likely to not have as much bad stuff. We usually go crazy with over eating the bad stuff when we are hungry. When you are not hungry it helps a ton to curb your sweet/salty cravings.


-If you Booze (too much) you will lose: Blah, blah, blah..."I'm not giving up my wine!". "There is no way I'm not drinking this weekend!!". Fine! I get it. Alcohol is fun and makes you and others waaay more good lookin':-) Here is a great rule of thumb from the Paleo Solution book:


...For our clients the lifestyle piece is tougher to nail down than the exercise for sure, and it is even tougher than the food.  People will gladly pay to be beaten senseless in workouts, but they are ready to bolt when we suggest they get a few zzz's and curtail their boozing for the sake of their health and a better-looking fanny...

...What you need to know is that alcohol does not just blunt growth hormone release, it just turns it off.  This is not good for your health, recovery, or body composition.  Solution?...Drink earlier.  You need to get your booze in as far away from bedtime as you can...
...Much of the problem with drinking is not the booze itself but all the crap, usually sugar, that comes along with it.  Ditch your frou frou drinks with the umbrellas and go for clear liquor.  My favorite is Tequila (gold), prepared with the following ingredients:

The Infamous NorCal Margarita!
2 shots of gold tequila
Juice of 1 lime (the whole damn thing)
Splash of soda water

Drink one or two of these on an empty stomach early in your evening.  Wrap up the night with some protein and fat, and you are set....There is also some chemistry behind the recommendations.  The lime juice blunts insulin release and the carbon dioxide bubbles in the soda water act as what's called a "nonpolar solvent."  This actually extracts the alcohol from the drink and delivers it to your system faster...

...Beer is generally loaded with gluten.  If you can find a gluten-free variety, give it a shot, but keep in mind it does have significant sugar content...If you go for wine, opt for dry varieties, as they have less sugar...

-When you do something bad...make it up with something good: I read this phrase a few years ago and it has always stuck with me. Typical Americans would eat a bad meal and swear off food of any kind for days, because they had 'too many bad carbs/calories and they need to make up for it. When I go overboard with eating the wrong kinds of food. I usually try to rectify with. My idea of rectifying the bad for the good is cancel out the bad food you recently ate with some good food. If I ate some fried food, indulged in alcohol/desserts, I will immediately follow that up with eating some lean protein, fruit/veggies and supplement with some fish oil from SHF to balance everything back on track.

For more tips we recently have wrote about: Restaurant Rules

What are your ch-EAT-ing strategies you have developed?

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