Nutrition Principles

Nutrition plays at least as much of a role in muscle gain and fat loss as does weight training. It is also arguably the more underappreciated and misunderstood of the two with a huge number of bogus and unhealthy “diets” which can be best compared to get-rich-quick schemes.

The basic principles of nutrition stay the same regardless of your goals, age, sex, or physical condition. The main differences will lie in meal sizes and proportions of different macronutrients in meals.

You should always:

Have 5 or more small to medium-sized meals throughout the day.

2. Drink lots of plain water throughout the day. 8 cups of water is the minimum. Get at least 25% of your daily calories from protein, with some in every meal. Get 20–40% of your daily calories from complex and fibrous carbohydrates.

3. Get 20–40% of your daily calories from good fats.

4. Eat minimally processed and cooked foods. Especially, eat a lot of raw vegetables. Avoid meals heavy in carbohydrates and/or fats.

5. Avoid sweets and sugary foods, processed foods, fried foods, junk foods, and alcohol.

Create Your Own Healthy Meals!

Instead of giving you specific recipes, better to know how to design your ownealthy meals. First, consider the following groups of equivalent foods

Very Lean Protein:

Lean Protein:

90% lean beef |Ground turkey |Salmon and other fatty fish
4% fat cottage cheese |Whole eggs

Legumes:

Beans|lentils, and peas are a mix of very lean protein and starchy carbs

Non-Starchy Carbs:

All vegetables other than corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes

Starchy Carbs:

Brown rice|Old-fashioned oatmeal|Sweet potatoes|Fruits and berries
Whole-grain bread and pasta |Breakfast cereals (use sparingly)

Healthy Fats:

Olive oil (and other oils)|Avocados| flax seed oil or seeds|fish oil
Dry-roasted nuts and seeds|Natural almond and peanut butter Egg yolk

Very Lean Protein + Non-Starchy Carbs / Starchy Carbs / Legumes + Healthy Fats Lean Protein + Non-Starchy Carbs / Starchy Carbs / Legumes

Legumes + Non-Starchy Carbs / Starchy Carbs + Healthy Fats Legumes + Healthy Fats

Include starchy carbs in meals in the first half of the day as well as meals before and after workouts. Include non-starchy carbs and legumes in the second half of the day.

Feel free to substitute or add as many non-starchy vegetables as you wish. These include lettuce, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, squash, peppers, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, and virtually any other vegetable besides potatoes and corn. Also, feel free to add calorie-free or low-calorie herbs and spices.