Fuel to set up your day for awesomeness!
We want to think long term with our fuel (food). To truly dial in each day for optimum performance and happiness, we want to do three things right when it comes to feeding. For our first meal of the day we need to warm up the bodies engine and set up its digestive system. Think FATS. And stay far away from sugary foods that will spike your insulin response. Your body doesn't like to hit the pavement sprinting at a million RPM by stuffing super high sugary foods into it first thing.
Some of my favourite good fat sources are: Avocado (I love these things and eat half of one every day, lol)
Nuts (peanuts are one of the least nutrient dense, with lowest amount of the fats we are targeting)
Flax (along with turmeric, flax in my opinion is a non-negotiable, and should be consumed every single day)
Chia seeds, dark chocolate, whole eggs - from a good source like Tara's house ;)
Olive oil
Spirulina (One of the most nutrient dense foods we could eat)
Coconut or MCT oils (Supercharged coffee.. yummmmbo!) We want to keep the next day in mind when feeding ourselves before the ever important sleep (rest and sleep will be the next topic we hit on in my quest to optimize Girls Gone Mad's health, fitness, wellness, and happiness). I won't get into the daunting task of writing out a complete meal plan, but will give you a few helpful tips.
Not unlike every meal, but perhaps more important than the others throughout our day, the last meal needs to have adequate complex carbohydrates. Think WHOLE nutrient dense ones (quinoa, brown rice, barley, legumes, buckwheat.. etc rooted veggies are my fave). Now balance this with your other choices for green leafy, or cruciferous veg, and of course protein (If you're like me and eat plant based, you should already have a grasp on how you get your proteins in - trust me, we all need much much less then the fitness media and industry tells us, I'm 230 lbs (mildly, but healthily chubby) and I sustain my strength and musculature just fine with .20 - .40 grams per pound body weight. Time your feedings! Try to have your last meal of the day no later then 3-4 hours before bed time. You should break your fast in the morning half hour to hour after hydrating, and shortly after your morning cup of joe. I'm a huge fan of intermittent fasting and quite often break my fast after my morning workout. (I fast 6pm-11am M-F). Now full disclosure.. if you haven't set yourself up just right, it can be a difficult thing to do with high intensity or long duration workouts. Additionally, it's important to restock your glycogen stores post workout. This is when I throw back my SuperCharged Green Smoothie - I'll be putting some recipes together for what these look like, but suffice to say, if you haven't equipped your kitchen with the power of a VitaMix, you are missing out on grand opportunities for high impact, nutrient dense, convenient Super Foods! This is a good start, but by no means the whole picture ;)
Ryan Ellis