Eating clean :)

Hi everyone!

Quick update from me: training is going well! I'm still having training sessions with Les Mills PT Jason Brown, we did legs Sunday after I'd danced all weekend at Sevens and it took me 2 days to recover! This week's leg training wasn't much better and had really bad cramp in my calves by the end! He's a hard task master but definitely makes a good training partner!

I'm still in the 1stPhorm Athlete Search and enjoying interaction with heaps of people through social media! So please support me by liking my page at  www.facebook.com/xoxajvxox and follow me on Instagram www.instagram.com/xoxajvxox :)

I'm also giving people a chance to get two free sessions at Les Mills and I'll take you round the gym! So message me on FB or email me xoxajvxox@gmail.com if you're keen!

I've had a few people ask me about how I eat when I'm training. The main answer to this is I eat a lot but I eat very clean!

I'm reluctant to give the specifics of my eating plan because it's very specific to me, and what fuels my training might not be as efficient at fuelling yours.

Instead I'll say a bit about some of the foods I eat and give some tips for combating cravings and

Breakfast:

I never, ever skip breakfast! I spent a lot of my early 20s doing this to the point where I wouldn't even be hungry in the mornings... Man, I'm glad those days are gone! Breakfast is sooo important for a healthy body (and healthy mind!) so I always start the day with a protein shake and a big bowl of porridge (oats) topped with low fat milk and a sprinkle of cinnamon to taste. Oats are such a great food and contain protein, iron and ... For fuelling athletes!

Lunch/ meals during the day:

I usually eat 2 day meals, one about 10am and one about 12.30pm. I eat chicken, roast kumara (sweet potato) and basmati rice for this. I eat basmati rice because it is lower GI than brown, keeps me feeling full for longer and even for someone like me who doesn't like to cook it's relatively easy.

Dinner: as well as chicken, for dinner I have a massive salad and this is where I load up on most my vitamins and minerals. Lots of greens, cucumbers, spinach, green peppers and lettuce; reds and oranges -tomatoes, red peppers, carrots. I'll throw mushrooms in there and some feta and olives to taste. My favourite meal of the day. I don't have carbs like sweet potato or rice at night, but this isn't the same for everyone, so talking to your trainer is best for determining this for you.

Snacks: fruit is my best friend. When you stop eating processed food and sweets you become more sensitive to taste, and let me tell you, fruit tastes amazing! Nothing I like more than snacking on fresh fruit!

Nuts: I've added some nuts back into my diet to supplement my vitamins, having small portions of almonds, Brazil nuts and cashews. Not peanuts, they are a legume, not a nut!

Tips, tricks and fighting temptations

Like I say all the time, I'm not a fitness expert, I'm supported by awesome people who plan my meals for me and I'm just good at doing what I'm told. So anything on here is just from my experiences so far and is definitely not to be taken as gospel. My first tip is to go see a trainer, get a food plan set up for you that will support your body while you train :)

 Even if you don't have a meal plan, pre-plan, prepare and pack your healthy meals! If you have something g ready to eat you are much less likely to go out and buy something unhealthy. I do all my meal prep on a Sunday so I am ready to go Monday morning. It makes it a lot easier to avoid takeout if you know lunch and dinner is all ready to go.

Pre-planned meal at the Wellington Sevens #noexcuses

Eating clean can be extremely hard, especially when there are temptations all around you. I went cold turkey from candy, and I find that low carb/low sugar protein bars do more than enough to satisfy my sweet tooth.  We tend not to have junk food in the house and keep eating out to a minimum to make sure we're sticking to the plan. It's much cheaper to cook at home and you know what's going into your food!

One main thing is not to punish yourself if you do slip up, or give up just because you caved once. If that biscuit was just too tempting, don't throw your whole eating plan out of the window and eat the whole packet! One biscuit won't kill you, so tell yourself next time you'll resist. I can look at a large range of goodies ( like at my work's morning tea) and not be phased.

People will get used to you eating clean. It will be novel, strange, odd and you may cop some teasing about it for a while, but once you have been going long enough people will stop noticing and will realise this is just part of your lifestyle. People like my awesome workmates will even help accommodate your eating needs (see my post about my birthday and what my workmates and wonderful friends made me!) Do remember though this is a choice you are making, if you get upset every time someone eats a candy bar around you, you'll not only stress more about eating, but you'll quickly make yourself unpopular too!

Drink heaps of water. I'm really bad at staying on top of this, but I always feel so much better when I'm hydrated. You've probably heard people mistake thirst for hunger and I find this is so true! If I'm ravenously hungry outside of a mealtime I make sure I go have a couple of big drinks of water to see if food is what my body needs!

So these are a few of my tips, if you've got any others please feel free to leave them in the comments! 

Progress as of 16/2 :)