Carbs – when, where and how we should eat them part 2. Ok so we have got to day 14 after a massive change and should be feeling pretty good right now. On this day we advise all our clients to have whats called a cheat meal. I think people lose fat faster if they are allowed a cheat meal once every week and if they are leaner(sub 10% bodyfat for males and sub 16% for females) I allow it every 4/5 days and in some cases cheat days. The cheat meal increases the metabolism so it makes you lose body fat faster.
A typical question on cheat meal day is “Do I have to have it ?” – My answer is always yes even in bigger clients. The reason being we are Irish and have been brought up on a carbohydrate laden way of life and depriving ourself over the long term usually leads to binge eating and “falling off the wagon”. Another common question I get is “what should I eat?” – My advise is to try to have something gluten free(gluten is a difficult protein for all humans to digest and they might be better avoiding it) and make it your last meal of the day where you are less likely to continue pigging out. Im not encouraging you to go to Mc Donalds and fill yourself full of trans fat S**T foods. There are many great choices when it comes to gluten free Cheat Meals including some chocolate I advise and my personal favourite some of the Haagen Dazs Ice Cream. How to eat your cheat meal? My advise would be to eat it at the table and not in front of the telly where you are more likely eat more than you should.
I DONT RECOMMEND THE ABOVE ^^^^^^
After14 days have passed and if you are training correctly and sticking to the food plan you should see a marked increase in your energy levels and performance and a good drop in body fat %. It is then we start to reintroduce smarter carbohydrates into your food plan. Now it doesnt mean splurging, we are still going to aim to have a high intake of organic protein, smart fats and moderate carbs. The carbs sources I advise are things like sweet potato, quinoa, Brown rice, nut butters, certain rice cakes, natural greek style yoghurt and fruit and veg. Most of my clients have their carbohydrates in their post workout meal and dont go overboard! My advise on fruit after the initial 14 days is to eat 1 piece per day and its going to be a fruit you have never eaten or rarely eat(which generally means no bananas and oranges initially)
We are in a results based business, people pay us to look and feel better and more importantly to improve their health. Continuing to eat the wrong types of food can cause major health problems and you cannot out train a bad diet. Sugar is highly addictive and our main goal is to keep it as low as possible. Most of the health shops stock various “no carb” bars – these bars are often laden with artificial additives and as much as possible I would advise you not to eat it. Look on the back of labels and if there are more than 5 ingredients try to avoid buying it. Understanding which foods are best for you is tough but if certain foods make you feel bloated tired or sick then its simple – dont eat them.
As i touched on in part one the easiest way to avoid over eating on carbs is to eat your protein first(meat, fish, eggs). As you will see there are plenty of carbs you can choose its just about being smart and choosing the right ones. Im not into weighing foods or counting calories as I think we should enjoy our meals and not make it a big ordeal.
Hope you enjoyed part 2 and it can help you!
Adrian Harper
25/3/13
