Nutrition Tips To Help Cut The Fat

Wondering how to cut the fat? There are two types: the kind reflected back when you look at yourself in the mirror and the kind you ingest. Exercising to burn calories and tone your body will be more effective if you combine your efforts with proper nutrition.

Here are some tips to help you cut the fat and meet your goal:

1. Portion control
2. Include protein with each meal/snack
3. Get 2 tablespoons of healthy fats (omega 3’s) per day
4. Read the labels
5. If it doesn’t look like a fruit or a vegetable, it’s not

Portion control refers not only to the size of each portion on your plate, but also to the number of portions you consume each day. Try dividing your meals in to 5 or 6 smaller meals/snacks per day. This will give your body confident signals that it will be fed on a regular basis, therefore reducing the body’s tendency to store calories.

When it comes to the size of each portion, think less is more. How so? If you put less starches on your plate, you will have room for more vegetables. This translates into less calories, more nutrients and more fibre. What’s a portion size? One serving of a complex carbohydrate equals ½ cup cooked pasta or 1/3 cup cooked brown rice, one serving of fruits or vegetables equals ½ cup and one serving of protein equals the size of a deck of playing cards.

Include protein with each meal to help you feel fuller, longer, as protein takes longer to digest. Protein also helps you maintain lean body mass. Muscles burn energy, therefore lean body mass burns more calories than not-so-lean body mass. Eat your proteins and pump some iron!

Ensure you’re getting two tablespoons of healthy fats per day. These fats contain essential fatty acids and the EFAs are important for normal growth and development, supporting the cardiovascular, reproductive, immune, and nervous systems. When you’re trying to cut the fat, cut the bad fats such as saturated fats and keep the healthy ones. They will help you acquire nutrients, repair cell membranes, and flush out toxins. Healthy fats include oils from fish such as salmon and mackerel, flax seed oil, olive oil, and avocados.

Read the labels on all your processed foods. Look for “glucose/fructose” or “high fructose corn syrup (HFCS)” or “modified corn syrup”. If any of these ingredients are listed, it's best not to buy the product, and best not to eat the product.

Remember, you’re on a mission here, to cut the fat. You won’t achieve your goal if you’re feeding yourself ingredients that will push your body toward a lipid generating pathway.

The last tip - “if it doesn’t look like a fruit or a vegetable, it’s not” – is geared to get you thinking about what you’re putting in your mouth. Sure, you may think a fruit smoothie is a healthy snack before working out, but if you break it down, you’ll realize that a whole fruit or a few vegetables is a better choice.

Jugo Juice fruit drinks boast a total of 10 fruits in one drink. That’s good, right? Not so! Who needs 10 servings of fruit in one sitting? Do you know how much fructose you’re getting? What did I say about high fructose and the lipid pathway? Eat a banana or an apple and a few almonds or walnuts to give you a healthy pre-workout snack. They look like real food because they are real food. Your body easily recognizes whole foods and has an easier time using the nutrients within them.

Be nice to your body – give it something real to chew on and ‘cut the fat’.

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