Nutrition is a vital part of being lean and healthy. If you are not nourishing your body properly your health will suffer, which in turn will impact your body composition and fat loss goals. It’s like expecting your car to drive you somewhere with orange juice in the tank. We all understand that the car won’t go far using orange juice as fuel, but often people forget or don’t realise the same applies to your body. What you fuel your body with is crucial for fat loss and health.

First let’s have a look at what is ‘good nutrition’. ‘Good nutrition’ is food that nourishes your body with natural (not fortified or synthetic) vitamins, minerals, macronutrients and fibre. This comes from natural, fresh food that generally does not come with an ingredients panel. Fresh fruit and vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, fresh or dried herbs and spices, good fats such as olive oil, coconut oil, organic butter, ghee, grass fed lard, and fresh, unprocessed, grass fed and/or organic animal protein.

Food and even beverages, that are processed, high in sugars or simple carbohydrates, or contain trans fats, is ‘treat food’. Ideally you would keep ‘treat food’ to one or two serves per week if you want to preserve or improve your body’s health, and you want to improve your body composition.
Let me give you some examples of ‘treat food’:

• Drinks such as fruit juice, soft drinks, energy drinks, flavored mineral waters
• Alcohol
• Breads, pastries, danishes, wraps, rolls, pasta and anything else made using dough
• Fast Food such as burgers, chips, hot dogs etc.
• Ice-creams, chips, lollies, chocolates
• Desserts such as cheese cake, birthday cakes, cupcakes, jelly, etc.
• Sauces such as tomato sauce/ketchup, sweet chilly sauce, jam, and other condiments high in sugar

Think about your local supermarket; the items sold in the perimeter of the supermarket are generally the fresher options. The items sold in the shelves in the centre of the supermarket are generally treat food. If it has an expiry date or best before date that is more than a week away it is ‘treat food’. Fresh food wouldn’t last that long.

Think about this; if it can sit on the self for the next 3 months, 9 months, year, what do you think it is doing in your gut? Because if bacteria won’t eat it and make it go off, what makes you think you will be able to digest it efficiently?
Rule of thumb, the longer its shelf life, the more you should avoid it and keep it as a treat food.

If 1-2 treats per week is a huge difference to what you are currently eating, keep track of your food over a week. Be completely honest, write it all down, and highlight all the food on there that is ‘treat food’. However many you end up with, try to cut that by at least the following week. Keep reducing over a period of weeks until you are successfully and easily eating no more than 1-2 serves of ‘treat food’ per week. You will be amazed that this simple, yet not easy, transition can make, to your fat loss and health goals.

–  Coach Terri