10 Nutrition Strategies To Help You Get Sexy-ier – Part 1

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I’ve heard it a thousand times…

“OMG Jamin you are such a health freak…”

“Jamin don’t you ever eat anything NORMAL?”

“Jamin come on dude, live life a little!”

When this happens I’ll just smile and glance down at the persons belly…because it usually reveals all of the “living” they have been doing lately…

Burgers, nachos, beer, and brownies…yep just as I thought buddy you’re living the dream. Hold on a second there… I’m living MY dream here!

Excuse me sir while I make this paradigm shift.

Eating a bunch of crap whenever you want…hey I guess that’s what some people call living, and to be honest…yes sometimes I DO eat “bad food”, I just eat it much less frequently than the average person…and when I do, there’s a strategy behind it.

So today I salute you, my opponent of self discipline, this post is for you.

These days it seems everyone is on a quest to find the perfect workout program or the holy grail abdominal workout that will make them look amazing, put them on a magazine cover, and land them a big endorsement contract.

Sure that would be pretty cool, but most of these people are ignoring one critical aspect of the puzzle.

NUTRITION!

And before you get all cliche on me and start telling me that “diet is 80%” or any kind of BS like that…let me just tell you this: SAVE IT.

There is no need to get carried away with unproven statistical theories. I HATE unproven theories…

The only math you really need to know is the following: There are 24 hours in a day. Multiply that by 7 and you get 168. So there are 168 hours in a week. Slow your roll, there is no need to bust out with your iPhone calculator here…I got this one ok?

Now, assuming you’re training for an hour or so 3-4 times per week (which is what I recommend in most of my programs) you’ll probably be in the gym for a maximum of 5 hours per week, assuming one or two of your workouts may last a little bit longer than an hour.

So that math leaves us at 168 to 5.

Are you still with me here?

Ok so now let’s subtract 5 from 168 and now we have 163.

So you have 163 weekly hours of unaccounted for ‘downtime’ where your progress will be shaped by what you put into or keep out of your mouth.

You don’t need an Ivy League education to get my drift here…NUTRITION is PARAMOUNT. And based on my math it probably counts for much more than that 80% everyone so loosely throws around. I have no idea where these statistical assumptions even come from…for all we know it could be much less then 80% but your guess is as good as mine. Let’s just stick with my math for now though.

But I digress.

For the next couple of days I’m going to be discussing some unique nutrition methods you can use to get sexy, lean, healthy, and strong.

These strategies will help you transform into that stud that all of the girls want to be with and all of the guys want to be like. They will help all of you ladies out there turn heads wherever you go and be the envy of all your friends. And I’m not just saying this to hype you up or blow sunshine up your asses…I know for a fact that it’s true.

Last week we discussed 8 foods I will never eat. In this series I’m going to give you 10 unique methods you can use RIGHT NOW to help you sport a sexy, lean, hard, muscular physique you can be proud of.

1. Go Raw

It is well documented that raw fruits and vegetables are great sources of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and many other powerful nutrients (including phytochemicals which have been shown to even fight cancer). The craziest part about this is that each particular plant appears to produce their own unique blend of phytochemicals that combat cancer in their own unique ways!

With all of the evidence out there that raw fruits and veggies can help fight disease, and that each one has the ability to fight different diseases, you may want to think about including a wide variety of raw fruits and vegetables into your diet. In fact, I recommend eating at least 50% of your food raw. Honestly,  it is just healthier.

Raw foods are chock full of more enzymes, vitamins, minerals, fiber, and bulk because they are “living” foods. There are 20 active vitamins needed by your body as well as 17 minerals and trace elements. Raw fruits & veggies can provide them all. Boom.

2. Stop Hating On Fruit

I know there are quite a few ‘experts’ out there who recommend avoiding fruit…because fruit is supposed to make you fat…but are you effing kidding me?!? Look, I don’t know what secret conference I missed out on where they discussed this stuff but I recommend eating 3 to 5 servings of fruit per day!

My reasons are simple. When you eat fruit you’re getting a TON of fiber, plus fruit is great for helping your muscles recover post-workout. Not to mention all of the vitamins and antioxidants that fruits provide! Regardless of what you may have heard…the response your body has to the sugar in fruit is not quite as dramatic as eating a spoonful of sugar, trust me…I eat fruit every day…even before photoshoots and fitness competitions!

Last time i checked I was still ripped. Just sayin…

It’s not just the fruit, or the sugar in the fruit, that’s going to cause weight gain and fat storage. If you’re eating properly, controlling your calories, and getting sufficient amounts of protein, vegetables, and fibrous carbs, then 3 to 5 servings of fruit a day is not going to make any difference WHATSOEVER regarding whether you lose belly flab or not. In fact, it will probably help you lose more fat. The sugar, or fructose you consume in those servings of fruit will not dictate whether you’re successful at losing fat. Period.

My favorite times of the day to eat fruit are breakfast and post-workout. Consuming natural carbs such as fruits post-workout helps promote an anabolic effect that can actually HELP your muscles repair faster. The faster your muscles repair, the faster you can increase your metabolism. You know what that means right? Faster fat loss! Tell those fruit haters to go somewhere!

3. Staying Faithful Sucks

That’s why I cheat every week! Yep that’s right, I’ll eat one or two cheat meals each week depending on what my overall goals are at the time. I know that ‘cheat meals’ have that feeling of guilt associated with them, but it is much better to think of your cheat meal as one of many components that goes into your complete diet plan. This means eating foods that are not typically belly fat friendly (fries, cookies, cake, pizza, etc) can work to your advantage if you use them properly. So go live a little

4. Use The KISS Method

Are you one of those ‘fitness freaks’ who gets really anal and eats 12.7 almonds at each meal or weighs everything you eat including protein powder down to the ounce? I’m sure not! Living my life like that would suck…and life is supposed to be fun! That’s why I use the KISS method when it comes to nutrition. Keep-It-Simple-Stupid!

There is no reason to complicate your nutrition to the point to where it takes over your life and you start freaking out if you ate 13 almonds instead of 12.7! Will that 0.3 of an almond really destroy your entire diet plan? REALLY???

What I usually do is just portion out my foods. I’ll have some protein (chicken, bison, fish, etc) that’s about the size of my fist, then about a cup of carbs, a dash of fat, and unlimited veggies.

This is a pic of my friend Dave Ruel aka The Muscle Cook.  Dave follows a similar meal strategy to mine and he took this pic one week out before one of his bodybuilding shows. In case you don’t know Dave, he is the author of Metabolic Cooking – which is hands down the best cookbook and nutrition program I’ve seen in a long time. Check out some of Dave’s recipes on his site: www.MetabolicCookingRecipes.com. I’ll be interviewing Dave later on this week and he will be sharing his best recipes and nutrition tricks so stay tuned…it’s going to be epic!

5. Eat Real Food

These days it is so easy to get caught up and become a supplement whore. But sadly, protein powder doesn’t even come close to a real steak when it comes to bodybuilding nutrition. Sorry! It just isn’t even close. Remember, protein powder is just a supplement like any other and should be used as such. Don’t replace food with pixie dust Jack.

Secondly, if you aren’t sure if a certain food counts as ‘REAL’ here is a surefire way to test. Just look at the ingredients. If there are more than three or if there is even ONE ingredient that you can’t pronounce or have no idea what it is, chances are that “food” isn’t real.

For example, if you’re buying chicken and you look at the ingredients and it says something like this: Chicken breast with rib meat, water, seasoning salt, sugar, food starch-modified, maltodextrin, spices, dextrose, autolyzed yeast extract, hydrolyzed corn gluten, soy, wheat gluten, proteins,  caramel color, polysorbate 80, xanthan gum, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, chicken fat, chicken broth, natural flavors (plant and animal source),extractives of paprika, modified potato starch, and sodium phosphates…you’ll know to ditch it.

When in doubt, shop like a cave man. Stock up on lean meats (preferably grass fed), organic veggies & fruit, whole grains like oatmeal, and raw nuts. If you feed your muscles real food like this, you’ll be well on your way to that super sexy physique you so desperately want to achieve.

Here’s a great REAL FOOD breakfast recipe from my buddy Dave Ruel’s Metabolic Cooking recipe book:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Oat Muffins

INGREDIENTS
(Makes 6 servings/6 muffins)
• 1 cup oatmeal
• 6 egg whites
• 1 scoop of chocolate protein powder
• 2 teaspoons pure cocoa powder
• Pinch of stevia
• ¼ teaspoon of baking powder
• 2 tablespoons of natural peanut butter

DIRECTIONS
1. Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
2. Then add the egg whites, extract, and water.
3. Stir until mixed well. Scoop into a muffin pan.
coated with cooking spray.
4. Bake at 350oF for 25 minutes.

Nutrition Facts Per Muffin
Calories: 177
Protein: 22g
Carbs: 11g
Fat: 5g

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If I missed anything let me know. Just post your favorite nutritional strategy or ask me a question below. I’ll be back real soon with Part 2.

Jamin