Nutrition - FOOD IS GOOD!

A few of my favorite things during contest diet time


(10/27/13) Over the course of my cooking healthy years I have searched for ways to make preparing foods easier by using tools and methods that decrease prep time in the kitchen.  I've been known for eating food just because I need fuel, not because it's all that delicious. I realize eating healthy is much more enjoyable when it's not bland. The more flavorful the food the more likely we will eat it. So, over the course of creating my contest diets for the past 10 weeks I have made a special effort to find ways to make my dishes "sing" with flavor. Here are some of my tricks and favorite things:
This little handy gadget is
made specifically for slicing yams.
I had no idea that a yam would break a
regular french fry cutter. This delicious and
oh so nutritious food is so dense that you need
this special  cutter.







My yummy fries! They almost look sinful don't they?


This is one of my secret ingredients in getting healthy fats, and
prevent my baked veggies from sticking to the pan.
Most contest diets will not include any butter because we stay away
from inflammatory foods, and dairy is a common inflammatory food.
But, Ghee on the other hand is dairy free and full
of the great vitamins! Read here to find out more:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/363779-ghee-nutrition-information/
The yam slicer made it quick
and easy to cut-up my zucchini. And, of
course, I coated the pan with some
 delicious Ghee.





These are the most common spices I use.
Herb blends from Penzey Spices (ones with
shallots and chives),
Sea Salt and lots, and lots of garlic (preminced saves a ton of time too)! 
Some baked garlic in green beans.
Mmmmmm, good! In addition, I will bake
cloves of garlic and add them for a bit more
rich garlic taste. 
I'm a HUGE egg fan. It's nice to have a hard boiled egg, but to
peel the egg can be nightmarish so instead I poach my eggs. Then
I can grab and go. This is an old school egg poacher, believe
it or not I've had this since 1989. yep. But, these days you can buy counter top poach cookers.


This is a popcorn snack I have incorporated
into my contest diet every now and again. And, I
don't feel guilty. This popcorn has three ingredients, Non-GMO
corn, Sea Salt and Coconut Oil (the best fat out there). Yum!
My trick to tracking how much water I drink. I place 7 Rubber bands at the bottom
of my bottle and after each 32 ounces drank I move it up to the top. I learned this
trick from a wonderful client and friend, THANK YOU Tammy!!




  












Page 2 of contest diet










Page 1 of my most recent diet




THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MEALS
(Meal Plan from 4 to 2 Weeks Out)
At weeks 4 - 2 until show time I incorporated a low calorie day. It started with every other day and then I added more low days, until the end when I stayed low. Here is a copy of one of the low days. As you may notice, the pages have begun to look a little worn. Or, is it just the low cal diet affecting my penmanship? Ha!ha!
 



Meal Plans






(9/3/13) The meal plan preparations can be a tedious task. It has been what takes up most of my time; From writing out all the expected grams of proteins, carbs and fats needed to cooking volumes of chicken and vegetables. Oh yay! (not). Though, there is a "God-Send" tool that has help me log my meals..... MyFitnessPal.com. I love this app! It saves me from having to re-write every meal, and it calculates everything for me!! Did I tell you I love it? It is really cool. I still have to create a plan on paper first, determining portions and foods that balance out for my goals. But, once I have that figured out then I just log it and if exchanges for certain foods are needed here and there, it's easy-peasy to adjust! Thank goodness for technology!!!

Here are samples of the food diary reports from MyFitnessPal.com for Week 8 & 7:









During week 8 I had been keeping calories low, but still incorporated some foods that are considered "fun snacks" to me, such as a Lara Bar. (I know, I know.... not really a fun food). Week 7 I increased calories on some days, but oscillated it with some low calorie days when I felt I "had enough". I based eating more food on how my energy level felt that week. My energy had started to drop by the end of week 8 so more calories was in order over the weekend. I felt like I was splurging, even though it was just an extra rice cake, kale chips or protein shake. WooWoo (not really), Ha! My plan to increase calories at the beginning of week 6 turned out to be more difficult than I thought. I ended up only eating 1500 Monday and Tuesday. Part of the reason was that I had also increased my water drinking goal from 84 ounces to 96 ounces. I kept feeling full of water much of the day. Plus, I take a liquid BCAA+glutamine drink 2-3x per day, adding more to "liquid" volume and my tummy felt like there was a balloon inflating inside. The next day, I "tricked" my body by drinking extra cold water to help "push" the water from the stomach and into the small intestines faster. This is where water absorption occurs so it actually helps to hydrate the body faster. It seemed to work, as I felt much more comfortable and I actually got 1775 calories that day.

The Nitty Gritty of Food Prep
I fortunately live next door to where I work so I have been able to grab and go, but by the end of the day my sink is full of all my measuring tools, dishes, plates, utensils, etc. I call it organized chaos.



Below is a photo of my digital scale hard at work. This tool has been fantastic to help me stay accurate. The digital scale is truly the way to go! My old fashioned scale would not have allowed me to "reset" the scale to 0 with food on the plate. This scale allows me to reset, add my 4 ounces green beans, reset again and add my chicken, etc. I don't have to get multiple plates of food to measure. It's really the little things that make me happy. :) 

This Kale Krunch snack has become one of my favorite things during contest diet. I will be sad to ween off this tasty treat by the end of this week. Less processed is the key to success!

This meal below may not look appetizing, but this Egg/Beef/Green Bean dish became one of my favorite meals last week. MmmmMMmmm! Good!

In an effort to to get extra nerdy and organized for my meals on a busy work day I packaged them all up and numbered them so I could grab, heat and eat. The mission was to increase my meal frequency from 5 to 7.  But, I didn't end up not making it to the last three meals and substituted a protein shake as my final meal. 

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Nutrition Planning

(8/27/13) Here is sample of my calculated diet plan during week 7 of contest prep. The numbers are fine tuned as I progress toward getting leaner and leaner. The trick is to not lean out to quick and/or under eat to the point of fatigue. I'm adjusting my calories up, after yesterday's diet as I found I was feeling tired so I boosted my carbs up a little bit.

2 comments:

  1. Meche - I love seeing your food on this blog. It has given me awesome ideas for snacks, etc... :-)

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    Replies
    1. Glad these little ideas help ya! Hopefully more ideas will come for non-contest times too. ;-)

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