Sunday, November 22, 2009

Diet Monotony - The Good, The Bad and The Consistent

How many times have you gone out and picked up the latest fitness or other popular magazine with an explosive title about some awesome new diet on the cover only to find that they give you basically one day's worth of eating plans?  I've seen this for years and always thought 'Where's the rest?'  It always looked incredibly boring to me to see 5+ meals of very basic foods stretched out through the day.  A complete lack of variety!  Why would you ever want to eat like that?


Well, I've found a little secret out about those monotonous diet plans that you may find interesting...






The Good


As much as I've tried to eat a varied and diverse clean diet of high quality foods, I find that I quickly settle back into a routine of the same meals and snacks over and over again.  Not necessarily for weeks on end, but a few days here and few days there will often look identical.  This can be good for several reasons.  First, you know exactly what you're getting for macronutrients and calories on those specific days.  You can easily increase or decrease your activity as needed to compensate for any caloric deficiencies or overages you may have.  Secondly, your body quickly adapts and expects a certain amount of food at a certain time each day.  It's amazing how often I find myself getting hungry and craving the same things at the same times over a period of days.  It becomes very easy and convienent to know that at 8am I'll have a Muscle Milk protein drink and at 10am I'll have a serving of Almonds and 12pm I'll have a grilled chicken salad and so on until bed time. 


The Bad


If you like a lot of variety, this kind of eating will take a little getting used to.  I'm not going to lie, it can and does get boring!  Sometimes you'll just crave something, anything other than what you've had the past couple of days.  Depending on what your mental state is at that time, this could potentially heave you off the clean eating wagon.  It's not worth taking a diet detour over being a little bored with your meal plan so think carefully about another real food option that will satisfy you.  For me, I like to make a quick and easy little recipe that I think tastes fantastic - my 2 Minute Egg Sandwich:


Toast 2 slices of Wheat Bread

While those are toasting up, spray a couple shots of olive oil into a standard little salad bowl you have in the cupboard.

Crack 2 whole eggs into the bowl and put in the microwave for 45 seconds (you MUST lay a cover over the top!  I like to use a Tupperware style cover lightly place on top)

When the microwave stops, fire it up for another 30 seconds or until the eggs are cooked through.

Your toast should be popping up any second now!

When the eggs are done, slap a piece of provolone cheese on top and recover (just let it sit and melt, it's not going back in the microwave) while you get your toast.

Slide the egg and cheese combo onto a piece of toast, cover with the second piece and enjoy!

This quick and tasty little treat provides:


320 Calories
22g Protein
24g Carbs
15g Fat




(You can easily reduce total calories and fat with a piece of light cheese and/or half a piece of cheese instead.)


The Consistent


That's what it's all about - consistency.  Consistency breeds discipline.  When you get used to eating the same things or same portion sizes at the same times every day, it gets easier and easier to do consistently.  Sure, it's not something new from one day to the next but you begin to find your favorites over time.  You will find that you begin to have a whole list of meals you can substitute in and out of your daily diet plan that will satisfy your requirements (and sometimes, cravings!) for any particular day.  Before your know it, you can eat consistently while still livening things up with various high quality, real food meals.


Eating clean can seem monotonous, but once you understand The Good, The Bad and The Consistent of it all you will be well on your way to mastering your total body transformation diet!




Stay tuned for our next update on Ben's total body transformation...




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