New Series--What's For Dinner--July 6 2010

I decided it would fun to start blogging on what I am making in the kitchen for my family each night.  I strive for healthy meals that my whole family will enjoy.  I hope you enjoy following along...

We are in the middle of a heat wave here in little ol' New Hampshire so I thought it would be a good night for Taco Salad with a side of cottage cheese--It's such an easy meal to prepare and always delicious!

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High Protein / Very Low Carb Diet Plan - 7 Day Overview

Now that the Holidays are behind us and 2010 is well under way, it's time to implement an effective diet gameplan to reach our fat loss and body transformation goals.  Like many people, I have experienced great success in the past with a High Protein / Very Low Carb (HPVLC) diet plan but found some pitfalls along the way.  The great part is:  you get results QUICK and can see meaningful changes right away.  The pitfalls:  well, there's a few we'll touch upon today and I'll also explain the modifications I'm making to avoid them this time around. 

Here's the plan:

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Diet Resolutions Galore

A new year, a new starting point and resolutions galore!  When you think about it, it is the perfect time to get started on a new diet and exercise program.  If you're like me, you probably overdid it a bit during the Holidays and ate a little (or a LOT!) more than you had planned.  You may have slacked off a bit with your exercise schedule due to all the other engagements going on.  You may also have settled into a 'new normal' which may not necessarily be better than the 'old normal'.  Thanks to our calendar, we now have a perfect starting point to get back to (or start anew) a sensible diet and exercise program!

Here are some top reasons why now is the perfect time to start and/or get back on track:

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Bens First BodyTransformation Steps And Diet Tips

Ben provided me with a thorough update of exactly what he has done to prepare himself to make some meaningful and positive dietary changes for a total body transformation.  While not yet implementing a structured eating plan, he has already seen some fantastic results and provides some insight as to why he feels he's already making progress.  What kind of progress?  How about an 8 pound reduction in bodyweight right out of the gate! 

How did he do it?  Let's hear it directly from Ben:


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What To Do When There's Only Fast Food

It's a hectic day - you've raced out the door in the morning without preparing anything to eat.  You're on the road and need to stop quick for a meal and there's nothing but fast food.  You don't have any meal replacement bars with you.  What do you do?

There are still options you can partake in without destroying your diet.  I personally continue to eat at fast food restaurants regardless of how strict my diet is because there are sensible choices.  What are they you ask?

Here's a quick and concise list I like to use:

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Amanda: Getting Your Diet And Exercise Plan Started

Ok, now that we have Thanksgiving behind us it’s time to get back on track!  Thanksgiving is about spending time with family, and being thankful and as we all know, is centered around food.  I am hoping that you were able to enjoy the feasts.  I know I did!  Now that it’s behind me, I find myself excited to get moving toward my ideal body.  No one can give you the body you want, but then again, they can’t take it away from you either!  Only you have complete control over your body.  Do with it what you will...
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Diet Dilemma - Preparing For The BIG Holiday Meal

Image via Wikipedia

Uh oh.  You've been working hard, keeping your diet on track, seeing excellent progress then all of a sudden here comes that big Holiday meal - what do you do?  Not to worry my friends, the best thing you can do is enjoy yourselves and the scrumptious meal before you.  Some of us however, and I'm definitely speaking for myself here, can have a tendency to, how should I put this - over do it a bit. 

Let's take a look at a couple of quick tips to help insure you don't tumble off the wagon after one of these festive feedings! 

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Hello Ladies! Let's Get This Started!

Let’s face it.  Girls wanna look good!  We casually check each other out and see how we measure up.  We’re vocal and let each other know when the other is looking cute…and when they’re not.  I’ve slacked off and gotten the:  “You look tired, is everything ok?" comments.  Ugh!  That is definitely not a compliment.   You know something needs to be done...

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Welcome Amanda! Our Newest Contributor

I'd like to introduce Amanda to everyone as our newest contributor.  She will be covering many topics that all the ladies can relate to as well as help provide a female perspective on dieting and total body transformations.  We look forward to having her join us and share her experiences.

So who is this beautiful mystery woman?  Let's take a look (pic attached)...


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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...

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Meet Ben – Diet For A Dollar’s First Total Body Transformation Subject!

Ben is a 32 year old male who stands 5’7” tall at a weight of 188 pounds and is in need of a total body transformation.  He’s become sick and tired of being sick and tired and wants to get his body into the best shape of his life.

I had an opportunity to sit down with Ben while he was waiting to be called in to be seen for his pre-transformation blood work.  It gave me a chance to ask him some questions about where he’s currently at, what his goals are and what’s on his mind:

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Our First Total Body Transformation Participant Is...

...Waiting for their pre-transformation bloodwork to come back!  As mentioned previously, we're leaving no stone unturned in this process and want to insure that everybody who's following along gets as much information as possible as it relates to the benefits of a total body transformation diet.  I anticipate the results to be returned later this week and we'll recap them all right here for you. 

In the meantime, I had an opportunity to chat with our transformation subject to discuss goals, objectives, starting points and what kinds of changes will be necessary to become a Better Than Average You.  That entire interview will be posted here within the next 24 hours.  Stay tuned!

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Exclusive Series: Follow Along With A Real Time Total Body Transformation!

Diet For A Dollar is currently working through the final details of an exclusive series covering an exciting total body transformation from start to finish!  Get ready to follow along and see exactly what it takes to transform your body into a Better Than Average You.  We will be leaving no stone unturned and you can expect to learn more about transformation specific diet and exercise than you ever have before! 

Check out the many areas we'll be covering and frequent reports our subject will be providing to us including:


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What Happens To My Diet When I Get Sick Or Injured? Part 1 of 2

 Sickness and injury are often unavoidable.  We can try hard to not get stricken with either of these but sometimes, no matter what we do, it just happens.  Today, we'll look at a couple of tips and tricks we can implement to avoid getting sick or hurt in the first place as well as how we can bounce back quickly and not miss a step with our diet and exercise program if it does happen!

How To NOT Get Sick

The best way to avoid down time from sickness is to not get sick in the first place!  The great thing is that our bodies naturally begin to build stronger defenses against sicknesses we may encounter as we eat better and exercise more.  And, in the off chance that you do come down with something, you’re body will be far more prepared to counter it and get you back to normal ASAP.  Here are some tips and tricks to keep you on the right path (some common, some not so common):

Eat High Quality Foods – As a staple component of your body transformation diet, you’re already giving yourself a leg up on fighting off potential sicknesses by eating high quality foods your body needs.  This helps to supply you with an array of natural, immune stimulating vitamins and minerals while keeping your digestive abilities in prime condition.  By avoiding copious amounts of over-processed foods your body doesn’t need, you won’t have to worry about excess energy being consumed for digesting low quality bulk.

Use High Quality Supplements – We can’t always conveniently get everything we need from whole foods throughout the day.  High quality dietary supplements do a fantastic job of filling this void.  As we’ve discussed previously, you must have a multivitamin in your daily arsenal.  This will help to fill in gaps that may be missed by a lack of variety in your daily diet.  High quality whey proteins are known to have immunity-boosting properties and are an excellent addition to your daily diet.  Other time-specific supplements help as well such as:

Vitamin C – The old standby.  Popularized by Dr. Linus Pauling’s studies and further impacted by decades of empirical data showing that it helps in the area of immunity.  I personally take a minimum of 2-3grams per day of Vitamin C.  I will bring this up to 5+ grams per day when I feel like I may be getting sick.  Assess your tolerance to higher than normal doses and see if your body benefits from it.  Being water soluble, it is very difficult to get too much Vitamin C.

Vitamin D – recent studies point to Vitamin D being helpful in the area of fighting of the flu.  It supposedly is effective with H1N1 or Swine Flu as well but I’m not certain there’s enough data to support this just yet.  And, as always with any dietary supplement, it is important to keep in mind the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) guidelines regarding what can and can not be said about dietary supplements.  Without being able to legally discuss possible benefits of supplements, many are left to their own motives and experimentation to determine what does and doesn’t work for them.  There are several positive links between Vitamin D and its ability to help prevent the flu available at The Vitamin D Council website. 

Echinacea – Another classic that has been said to have immunity-boosting properties.  I have personally used this with varying degrees of effectiveness.  Sometimes it seems to have worked great and other times not as much.  In recent years I have not used it much but I attribute that to being more consistent with a high quality diet, consistent exercise and a more complete approach to health, fitness and well being.  If you've never tried Echinacea before when you begin to feel a cold coming on, give it a shot and see how it works for you. 

Get Some Sleep – I’m terrible at this one!  Being overtired can quickly lead to sickness.  Getting some solid, uninterrupted sleep each night goes a long way to keeping your body ready to fight off any sicknesses.  When you’re exercising regularly, eating well and sleeping sufficiently, your body does a great job of staying that way.  As we’ve spoken about in other posts, our bodies like to get into a specific habit or routine and stay there – whether good or bad.  Being in a healthy state where your body fights off potential sicknesses is a good place to be!

Wash Your Hands Often – Especially after a workout.  This one should be a no brainer but it took me a while to figure this out.  The next two items are directly related to this as well.  As a kid, I remember being a mess all the time from playing outside with friends, riding bicycles, swimming, etc. Stopping to quickly eat a sandwich with grubby little hands never stopped us.  As we get older, it’s not as easy to get away with eating like that and the grubby little hands need some washing!  Be sure to wash your hands often and avoid…

Touching Your Eyes, Nose, Mouth and Ears – Don’t Do It! – Again, especially during or after a workout.  Years ago when I was going to a gym, I was getting sick every month or so.  It was from inadvertently scratching my eye, rubbing my nose, touching my mouth, etc while exercising.  Gyms tend to be festering pools of bacteria and you need to be careful to avoid getting sick.  Once I was consciously aware of what I was doing, I made (and still make) a point of keeping my hands away from my eyes, ears, nose and mouth until I’ve had a chance to wash them thoroughly.

Splash Cold Water On Your Face After Your Workout – Maybe this is just a superstition that I believe, but I feel this (along with washing my hands) has contributed a lot to not getting sick.  My theory is this: after working out, I thoroughly wash my hands with warm water then crank the water temp to as cold as it can go.  I’ll splash this icy cold water on my face and it tends to take my breath away.  I’ll do it a few times then dry off and be on my way.  It seems to me, and feels like the pores on my face are constricting due to the cold and therefore possibly not allowing bacteria to enter.  True or not, I’m not 100% sure, but I think it works for me and I recommend you give it a shot as well.


How To NOT Get Injured

Just like getting sick, the best way to avoid down time from injury is to not get injured in the first place.  Sometimes accidents happen and there’s not much we can do about it but beyond accidents, we can make changes to how we do things to try hard not to get injured.  Here are a few tips and tricks to help you out (again, some common and some not too common):

Always Try To Use Proper Exercise Form – A quick way to induce injury is exercising improperly.  Too much weight, moving to fast, being off balance, not paying attention to proper body mechanics – there are many ways to get injured while exercising.  Like anything else, it’s very important to learn the proper way to do things from the start then to create bad habits that could lead to injury in the future.  There are many good books out there that provide instruction on proper exercise form.  Check them out, study the proper way to do the various exercises and don’t fall victim to mimicking those folks in the gym who don’t know what they’re doing.

Don’t Use Too Much Weight – it’s not a contest and you really don’t need to try and impress anybody.  If you can’t lift much weight, then you can’t lift much weight.  It’s not a big deal.  You can create a fantastic looking body without lifting a ton of weight.  Getting stronger is part of it, but it doesn’t happen all at once.  Slowly building up the amount of weight you can lift or move is what it’s all about.  The body adapts slowly and will adapt if you allow it.  Overdoing it just puts too much stress on your body and it will break down if it can’t handle that stress.

Don’t Overtrain Or Exercise Too Often – It’s great to be motivated and try to consistently do a lot of exercise but there’s a fine line between being motivated and overdoing it.  Your body will tell you when your pushing too hard and it does so by breaking down.  Muscle soreness can become brutal if you’re pushing yourself too hard and not eating properly or getting enough rest.  I have fallen victim to this a few times and wound up spending 7 – 10 days just trying to recuperate.  Take it easy, be consistent but don’t overdo it with weight, intensity or duration.

Get Plenty Of Rest – Just like the ‘Rest’ portion from the Avoiding Sickness section above, it applies here as well.  Your body needs sufficient rest to take time off, repair and get ready for the next bout of activity you’re going to throw at it.  Extended periods of time without enough rest and sleep drags your body further and further into a fatigued state which many times ends in injury or sickness.  This also goes for plain old days off as well.  If you like adhering to a strict schedule of exercising on specific days you may find that sometimes it’s best to skip a day.  Not because ‘you don’t feel like exercising’ but because you’re sore from your last session and your body could benefit from some down time.

Eat High Quality Foods To Repair – Again, this will echo much of what was covered in the section above but it holds true to preventing injury as well.  Every time you complete an intense exercise session, your body becomes damaged by the exercises (on purpose) and needs to recover and repair so it can be prepared for the next session.  Eating high quality foods allows your body to repair and recover quickly.  The better you eat, the faster you repair so you’ll be ready for your next exercise session.


As you can surely see, there are many components that work synergistically to insure you stay in top shape to avoid sickness and injury.  It’s not going to be that one magic pill, special exercise, or trick that will forever keep you away from these things so please don’t fall victim that kind of marketing.  Consistent, small amounts of effort across a wide spectrum of areas work together to keep you healthy over time.

In Part 2 we’ll focus on how we can recover as quickly as possible if we do get sick or injured.

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Mastering Your Diet Through Discipline! Plus, An Overview Of The Glycemic Index And Thermic Effect Of Food

Do you have the necessary discipline to master your diet?  You may not think you do now, but you certainly can!  And, it's a lot easier than you may think...

What Does It Take To Master The Discipline Required To Diet Successfully?

We began to touch upon discipline and the mental component of it in this post and continued the discussion here.  Today, we'll recap some of those items and look further into what we can do to help ingrain the mental toughness needed to consistently eat well and make progress toward your goal of a 'Better Than Average You'. 

So much of the discipline required for sticking to a longterm diet plan lies in a handful of little tricks.  Let's take a look at some:

Work Toward A Weekend 'Splurge Meal'

One trick that helps you stay on the right track for the long term is to eat consistently clean throughout the week and take a meal or two (not too many...) on the weekend where you go all out and splurge on something you're craving.  If you're exercising and/or working out consistently and sticking strictly to a calorie range that's within or below your BMR guidlines then this isn't going to set you back too far.  For most of us, keeping those portion sizes small during the week will really begin to yield it's benefits during these 'splurge meals'.  As an example, I love sushi and will often partake in too much of it at one sitting on occassion.  Due to eating those smaller portions, I can't eat as much as I think I could and this is a good thing!  I'll fill up faster, probably feel sick and not really care if I have any more for a while.  The lingering effects are typically:  higher scale weight for 24hrs or so, a lack of hunger the morning after this meal, a very limited desire to eat (in this case, sushi) this meal again and very often a solid reduction in total caloric intake the day after one of these large meals. 
As you can see, mentally this is somewhat of a roller coaster but it's rather welcomed when you're sticking to a strict diet and eating plan.  Knowing that you're always a couple meals closer to having pretty much whatever you want is good to keep you focused.  It helps you work toward a goal - even if it's small and simple like a tasty meal. 

Put Off Your Next Meal For 15 Minutes

I often find in the mornings that I get hungry soon after breakfast and well before lunch time.  I know I'm going to eat something between these two meals but I want to split up that time period as much as possible - I want to be as far from breakfast as I can and as close to lunch as I can (so I can mentally push lunch that much further ahead).  Basically, I'm trying to lengthen the amount of time between breakfast and my next meal by convincing myself that I'll be satisfying my hunger closer to lunch time.  This can be a fight!  Your mind will start telling you over and over again 'Go ahead, eat now!  It's OK!' and you have to make a concerted effort to NOT give in.  If you work environment allows you to get distracted, then take advantage of that.  Delve into a project that will take 15 to 30 minutes or so to complete then revisit your hunger once you're done.  You don't want to be increasing the span of time to 3 or 4 hours by any means, but if you're like me and occassionally find yourself feeling hungry about an hour after breakfast, then you're going to have to implement a plan to widen that gap a bit. 

Split Up Your Meals

My schedule often finds me not able to complete a meal in one sitting.  It's frustrating but at the same time helpful to my daily eating plan.  I often like to have a Muscle Milk meal replacement drink for breakfast - it's quick, easy, full of everything I need and tastes delicious!  I'll mix it up with about 16oz of water and use half of it to swallow my vitamins in the morning.  Once I arrive at the office, I usually put my shaker cup aside for a while, get some work done and don't get to finish it until about an hour or so later.  I have then effectively stretched out my breakfast for a few hours without feeling or thinking I'm hungry.  Mentally, I'm not concerned about my next meal, snacking on something or falling off the wagon so to speak. 

Drink A No/Low Calorie Beverage Between Meals

For me, this is diet soda.  Caffeinated drinks of one flavor or another rule the day in my world.  If I'm concerned about getting too hungry too fast, a nice, bubbly, caffeinated diet soda is the perfect tool for me to use to pass the time between meals.  It may not be for everyone, but I enjoy it and recommend it to those who have a good grip on their caffeine tolerance. 

What Does All Of This Have To Do With Discipline?

Discipline simply comes down to consistently making the right decisions.  There are some things in life that you're probably very disciplined at.  Think about those areas for a moment.  What is it that keeps you disciplined and consistent?  What keeps you focused on making the right decisions? 
When dieting for the goal of a complete body transformation, there are quite a few variables involved that can have you straying off course.  It's helpful to have some tools at your disposal so that you can more often than not make the decisions you need to insure success.  You will have to continually battle with yourself mentally.  Some days it will be easier than others.  Some days you'll feel like you can live like this forever and others you'll wonder how you've ever kept it up this long.  It comes down to winning that mental battle as often as you can. 

I know this sounds funny, but the best way to win is to trick yourself.  Us the methods above to continually fight against any thoughts or feelings that will try to get you to stray off course.  Know that by waiting an additional 15 minutes until your next meal is nothing.  Tell yourself that you can eat whatever you want at this weekends 'splurge meal'.  Take 15 minutes to plan what you're going to eat during that meal!  Drink your favorite carbonated beverage and revisit the idea of having that next meal once you start feeling hungry again. 

Always keep asking yourself:  "Will this - meal, snack, bite, taste, drink, etc - get me closer to my goal?"

If it's not going to, don't make more work for yourself by taking a step or two backwards!


What's This Glycemic Index Thing?

The Glycemic Index is a ranking of carbohydrates based on how they affect blood sugar levels.  Essentially, those feelings of highs and lows after eating specific meals.  The energy felt immediately after having a candy bar and the subsequent crash afterwards.  These highs and lows are triggered by the sugar that enters your body through the food (carbohydrate) you eat and the release of insulin from the pancreas to metabolize this sugar (again, carbohydrate.  All carbs are metabolized down to sugars in the body). 

Too much sugar at once = sugar high
Which triggers a large dump of insulin into the body
Too much insulin at once = crash after sugar high

Modulating the body's release of insulin has many important health benefits but our focus at this time is on the effect it has on our diet.  The more consistent or modulated it's release is, the less highs and lows we'll experience and the more consistent energy and feeling of well being we'll have.  I can't say enough about how true this is.  It takes a little time to get into a mode where you're eating the correct carbs at the right times but once you do, it feels great! 
As we continue on with more in-depth looks at diet plans and foods to eat, we'll focus on the types of carbs in those meals, how they should affect us and why we're eating them when we are.  As we touched upon yesterday, what we're looking to take advantage of is:

- The consistent modulation of insulin release through complex carbs
- The benefits of the Thermic Effect (see below) created by fibrous carbs
- The manipulation of insulin to shuttle nutrients at the cellular level when our bodies need them most

To modulate insulin release throughout the day, consider having appropriate sized (both volume-wise and calorically) servings of the following complex carbs:

Oatmeal
Brown Rice
Sweet Potato

To fill in the gaps between meals and/or stave off those late night cravings consider eating as much as you want of the following fibrous carbs (without dressing!):

Lettuce
Cucumbers
Celery
Spinach
Broccoli
Cauliflower

To take advantage of insulin release to shuttle nutrients into our cells...Wait a minute -  we need to discuss this further to get a better understanding of why we want to do this...Here's the 60 second, quick and dirty version:

After working out or exercising (weights, cardio, running, etc) our bodies are in need of various macro and micro nutrients to replenish our natural stores of these nutrients, rebuild tissues that have been broken down and basically bring the body back to a state of homeostasis - a balance it likes to be at.  This means that we need to feed our bodies the nutrients it needs after a workout.  Not 'whenever we feel like it' after a workout, but right away!  Our bodies are primed to receive whatever we throw at it immediately following an intense workout.  This is the ideal time to quickly get high quality nutrients into our bodies and shuttled into the cells so they can repair, rebuild and replenish in time for our next workout.  Utilize a 'High Glycemic' carb coupled with some quality protein (whey) to insure your body gets everything it needs!

So again, to take advantage of insulin release to shuttle nutrients into our cells, consider these high impact carbohydrates immediately after a workout:

ON Recovery
Cytomax powder
Gatorade
Natural Grape Juice


The Thermic Effect of Food

When we eat, our bodies use energy to chew, digest and metabolize food.  When our bodies use energy, we (obviously) express it in terms of calories.  Therefore, the foods we eat provide us with energy - some of which can theoretically be used to provide the very energy to our bodies needed to process the food we're consuming.  Fibrous carbs are a great example of this effect because they provide very few calories but require a lot of energy to digest due to their cellulosic and/or fibrous makeup. 
Imagine for a moment that you consume 100 grams (about a cup worth) of sliced cucumber.  This will yield about 15 calories in energy for our bodies to use.  Let's assume that your body requires 25 calories of energy to chew, digest and metabolize that 100 grams of cucumber.  This would give us a net calorie deficit of 10 calories:

100grams of cucumber = 15 calories of energy provided

15 calories of energy provided - 25 calories of energy required to digest = -10 calories

That's the beauty of the Thermic Effect of Food!  You can have a positive effect on your caloric intake while eating a high volume of food to keep you sated - that's hard to beat!  Give yourself a boost in the right direction and continue to consume fibrous carbs. 

In future posts, we'll look more in depth at the importance of spices such as cayenne on the metabolism and how other spicy and/or heated foods can contribute to additional calorie expenditure by the body. 

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