You can figure out how many and what kind of calories you need to
meet your sports and fitness goals but if you don't prepare you won’t be
successful. It's like anything else in life. Students who don't take notes,
read assignments and cram for tests are generally not as successful as students
who have prepared and studied all semester.
Achieving success in your nutrition goals is no different. You have
to plan to be successful and it all starts at the grocery store. You have to
buy lean sources of protein, healthy complex carbohydrates, fresh or frozen
fibrous vegetables and healthy snacks. If you don't have healthy choices at
home you’re going to reach for what's there. If you are married, live
with kids or roommates chances are there will be plenty of unhealthy choices in
your pantry or refrigerator. If you are only shopping for yourself don't
buy unhealthy choices like candy and chips to tempt you. Buy those on
your designated cheat day each week and try to buy what you intend to consume
that day.
Preparation is another important factor in a successful nutrition
program. Most people have busy lives. The last thing most people want to do
after a long day at work or taking care of responsibilities is to prepare a
healthy meal. Especially if you are already cooking for kids. Find some time
once a week you can prepare enough healthy protein choices for the whole week.
I try to grill enough fish, ground turkey, chicken, lean beef patties etc. for
a week every Sunday. I put half the meat in the fridge for the first half the
week and half in the freezer for the second part of the week. I usually prepare
my complex carbohydrates like baked potatoes, rice, sweet potatoes and fibrous
vegetables as I go or the night before. Don't just cook a bunch of chicken or a
bunch of turkey. Give yourself choices. If you know you have plenty of choices
already prepared at home you are less likely to stop somewhere and make a bad
decision or make a bad diet decision at home like eating corny dogs with the
kids. If your evenings are busy with kid's activities or your own busy schedule
take your food with you. This is where a lot of people's downfall comes.
Parents are out driving kids to practice, games or competitions and they get
hungry so they run through a fast food drive through.
On those occasions when your food runs out before you have time to
go shopping have a backup plan. Make a list of restaurants that will prepare
food the way you need it for your nutrition plan. Enter these restaurants’s
phone numbers in your phone so you can call them and it's ready for takeout
when you get there if you're on a tight schedule. This isn't the 80's when some
friends and I got up and left Denny's one time because they wouldn't make us
egg whites. Restaurants are used to being asked to prepare food healthy. Don't
hesitate to tell them exactly how you want it.
Preparation is imperative to a successful nutrition plan. I have
heard all kinds of excuses of why people couldn't follow a healthy nutrition
plan but it all boiled down to the person they look at in the mirror each day
and a lack of preparation. Your chances of a successful nutrition program will
be much better if you follow these three steps:
1. Make good choices at the grocery store
2. Prepare food for the
entire week
3. Have a backup plan.
Whatever your goals may be, if you implement these three easy steps
to your nutrition planning you will be amazed at the positive results you get.
Let me start by saying I am not a Licensed Dietitian. I have been working with people to obtain their fitness goals since the summer of 1986 when I took my first job working at Gold's Gym in Lubbock, Texas while attending Texas Tech University. I finished undergraduate in 1987 with a BS in Kinesiology and earned my masters in Kinesiology in 1989. I moved back to Dallas where I had grown up and began my personal training career shortly after. In 1989 there were probably as many personal trainers in the city of Dallas as you would find in one Lifetime Fitness or 24-hour Fitness today. I learned early on to figure out a person's caloric needs according to their age, height, weight, activity level, and goals.
When it came to supplementation advice I always added multiple vitamins to their nutrition plans. The rest of my supplement advice depended on a person's goals. As a young trainer I had no idea that not all supplements were created equal. For instance most of the hard pressed once-a-day multivitamin tablets you find in the supermarket are "optimized for extended shelf life. To mask oxidation, spoilage, odor, and discoloration common to all supplements, their manufacturers use artificial colorings, preservatives, and glazes. ... 'One A Day Essential' is one of the more popular store brands. Their label lists eleven vitamins and thirty-one total components. ... These 20 extra items are fillers, preservatives, excipients, antioxidants, glazes, sweeteners, artificial coloring, binders, deodorizers, and other technological substances used to shape and hold this atrocity together."(1)
All these fillers affect absorption of the actual nutrients in the supplement. You may be taking enough of certain supplements, but because of all the fillers, binders, and preservatives in some products your body cannot absorb the active ingredients. Beyond this, some companies publish inaccurate labels. Their labels proclaim a certain amount of vitamins and nutrients in their product, but when tested by an independent lab the claims prove so inaccurate as to be fraudulent. Other bogus label claims include being 'natural' "but test these so-called 'natural' products in a lab and what will you find? Pesticide residues, GMOs and a long list of problematic and/or carcinogenic synthetic chemicals and additives." (2) Then there are companies whose labels flat out lie about what's in their product. To avoid these scams you are better off using products that are Certified Organic by an accredited third party certification organization.
Another issue with the "once a day tablets" as well as some of the other multivitamin packs sold in stores is they don't take age into account. As we get older our body does not absorb some vitamins and nutrients as well as when we are young. At different points in life our bodies have different needs. Arthritis is a good example. Not many people have arthritis in their twenties. Arthritis is gradual and usually begins after the age of 40. It makes no sense that the same multi-vitamin is being sold to someone in their twenties as someone in their forties or someone in their forties is taking the same multi-vitamin as someone in their seventies. Many companies have Children's, Adult, and Elderly formulated product offerings. This is not sufficient, because our needs are different even year to year. Children's, Adult, and Elderly are not sufficient ways for companies to divide their products for consumers needs. My needs are much different at fifty than they were at thirty-nine and that's only an eleven year span. How can any company justify having a one box fits all for all adults?
There is so much information to take into account it can get extremely confusing and frustrating for the average consumer. I have been in the fitness industry almost thirty years, and it's hard for me to process all the information. The media does not help. You read one article that says supplementation is critical and another article that says supplementation is a waste of time. In my opinion getting all the vitamins and nutrients your body needs from food alone is nearly impossible. Working as a personal trainer for so long, I have been around people my whole adult life that eat near perfect and still include supplements in their daily nutrition regimen to ensure their body receives all the nutrition it needs. I am a perfect example. I have had eight surgeries in the past four years. The most major ones being a four-level 360 fusion, Discectomy, Shoulder replacement and a knee replacement. Obviously arthritis and chronic pain are something I deal with daily. How in the world am I going to get all my joint and bone support from food?
Recently I was exposed to the first dedicated "Customized Supplement" company in the world, IDLife. Barring going to a doctor and having blood taken to build a custom prescription plan which can be very costly this company provides the most comprehensive individual nutrition available. You may think that the blood test would be more accurate than an assessment you take, but the blood test has no idea if you smoke, if you are exposed to second-hand smoke, if you have a very stressful life, etc., just to mention a few factors. Dr. Paul Sullivan (See Video above) has been working on this customized nutrition system for nearly eighteen years. Logan Stout is the founder and CEO. He played college baseball and had a professional baseball career for a while, so nutrition and supplements seem to be something of a passion in his life after helping others. In my near twenty-eight years in the fitness business, I can look anybody in the eye and tell them I have never been exposed to a nutrition company this innovative or with the goal of truly meeting the needs of each client.
I listed a bunch of age factors that are common to different age groups, but the truth is each and every one of us have different supplement needs. I will use myself as an example. Most people in my age group don't have the joint, bone and arthritis issues I have; no doubt brought on by training with some of the top bodybuilders in the world. IDLife provides me with the tools I need to get a customized supplement program for my exact needs. Before, I had to make an educated guess which supplements to suggest for my clients to take. IDLife is not a gimmick. IDLife's products are natural and organic with an extremely high absorption rate. Your body uses the supplements you take. IDLIfe is not a miracle. You still have to exercise. You still need to eat right. I suggest you take their FREE assessment at www.IDLife.com/RandyDEdwards and see what your body needs and why. You have nothing to lose by taking the assessment and everything to gain by getting the supplements you need with no artificial garbage, so your body actually absorbs what it needs and uses it.
1. Got a Gut Feeling Your Gut is out of Whack? Learn Gut Sense, to Enjoy Good Eats, Good Health and Long Life! Copyright 2005-2014 Konstantin Monastyrsky.2.Organic Consumers Association "Orca to Attack "Natural" Products Labeling Fraud, March 7th 2013
