As you probably know, nutrition is of the utmost importance for achieving



results in your fitness program and living a healthy life in general.  Like

exercise, nutrition must be goal specific.  If you want to lose weight you

cannot eat a high Calorie diet.  If you want to gain weight you cannot eat a low

Calorie Diet.  No matter what your goals are, here are the most important tips

for active people to consider about their diet.

You cannot take a once size fits all approach when it comes to nutrition.

It does not matter if you read a diet in a magazine or have an expensive

nutritionist for your nutrition program.  What works for other people may not

work for you.  To find what works for you, experimentation is a must.  I stress

eating for variety.  The more variety of food and fluids you consume, the more

satisfied you will be with your meals.  Consuming a variety of foods, the more

vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytochemicals you will get in your diet. 

Far less negatives such as saturated fats, simple sugars and excess calories

will be consumed.

 Having proper nutrition will allow you to achieve optimum and more rapid

results in any training program.  Nutrition cannot be overlooked when optimum

athletic performance is considered as well. 

Eating Healthy Food and Fluids is More Important than Calorie Counting 



Many diets and nutrition programs focus strictly on calories in their

program.  This is definitely NOT the best way to approach your diet.  Consuming

the optimal foods will more than likely take care of the calories for you.

Most commonly referred to “clean" foods are better for satisfying your hunger

and giving you the nutrients for energy for exercise.  “Clean" foods are

generally natural, nutrient dense foods without added fats and sugars.  The

healthier the food is blatantly obvious some times.   If you had the choice

between macaroni & cheese or plain sweet potato you can plainly see which would

be better for your health. Steamed vegetables or fries?  This is never really

difficult.

Eating 5-6 small Meals and Snacks Takes Care of Food Timing

Have you ever been told not to eat, or not to eat or not to eat carbs after

6pm?  This is something that is not good.  Eating 5-6 small meals and snacks

evenly spread out through the day is optimal.  This will not only take care of

your pre- and post- exercise meals but will also keep your energy levels stable

throughout the day.  When your body is constantly breaking down smaller

portions, your energy, metabolism and fat burning will speed up.

 Be a Cheater!

Sometimes sticking to a diet is very difficult.  This is why cheating on your

diet once in a while will keep you on track.  If you are accustomed to cheating

on your diet once a week you will be less likely to binge the next time you see

a pizza, cookies or chips sitting in front of you.  Cheating simply means eating

an “un-clean" high calorie food that is not a normal part of your diet.  Save

this meal for a social occasion and don’t overdo it.

I hope you find my advice useful.  I have much more but it would take

hundreds of pages.  The advice I want you to remember is if it does not work for

you, move on to something that may.  Einstein once defined insanity as doing the

same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  Good luck and I

hope you are in the best shape of your life soon.