Food For Thought

To mark the new year I thought I would start a blog where I can share my experiences and advice with training and nutrition that may help many of you reach your goals. I will back track and share some great experiences from last year also but heres one to kick off 2012. Happy new year!

THE FOOD YOU EAT CAN BE EITHER THE SAFEST AND MOST POWERFUL FORM OF MEDICINE OR THE SLOWEST FORM OF POISON Ann Wigmore, Raw food pioneer…. I came across this quote in a wellness magazine I was reading on the way home from a recent holiday in Bali and it made me realize to the extent the effects food can really have on your body and general wellbeing.

I have being eating quite clean (consistently) for the at least the past year and a half now and in conjunction with consistent training I can comfortably say that I am in the best shape of my life … well before my little holiday that is.

Most of you would have heard that a cheat meal or two (in moderation) every week is actually beneficial not just for you sanity but it actually shocks your metabolism into working in overdrive! And its true, WIN! But sometimes we fall into a trap where we feel invincible and nothing will affect all of our good work! So a cheat meal turns into a cheat day, a cheat few days, a cheat week and even a cheat month or longer! And before you know it you are ten steps behind where you started and feeling worse than ever before from the inside out!

Before my trip to Bali and just before Christmas as well I had started a new training and diet program (I still always follow a clean eating plan and training regime otherwise but this just stepped it up a few notches). After only a week on my new intense program I felt incredible. I had so much energy from the food, my skin was fantastic and I felt super lean in such a short amount of time and even more fit than usual. The type of food I was having at certain times of the day was nourishing my body more than ever! Just so you have a good understanding, regardless of what eating plan im on I generally always avoid sugars and processed foods for the most part except for when I have cheats. But the new plan was a lot stricter so there was nothing processed what so ever.

When I arrived in Bali we went out for dinner where I stuck to my usual regime and ordered my clean piece of steak and some potato (they didn’t do vege on the side I was devastated haha) so by the next morning when I put on my bikini I felt fantastic. However, because I was on holiday I decided i would let go a little and enjoy myself, also who could resist the fact that we had our own chef who would make omelets and pancakes every morning. I tried to keep up my clean eating the rest of the day but it was proving to be more difficult than I had thought, but I wasn’t far off until dinner, where I forgot that I couldn’t eat a lot in a singe sitting and stuffed myself (still full of healthy veggies and other options) till I was about to burst! My stomach wasn’t very happy even though it was still clean food.

The next morning was Christmas day and I felt fine, but all control went out the window. I still ate relatively clean all day but portions were all over the shop, I ate myself into a food coma at lunch (as most of us do on xams day!) but it was the late night run to the supermarket that really had an effect. We had all sorts, ice cream and chocolate you name it but hey it was xmas!! About half an hour after my little binge I started experiencing the worst stomach cramps and felt like I was going to be sick. Iv had cheats before where I haven’t felt so good but this was almost instant, the sugar was just not agreeing with me at all.

By the next morning I was full of fluid my abs has virtually disappeared over night and I was feeling very sluggish. Its amazing that after just one day of letting go completely this was the effect!

The rest of the trip wasn’t any better, the more I had sugar and excess carbs the more I craved them! Now you have to know that we went to the gym every day and trained pretty hard but this did not help counteract the effects on the food I was having. Even if I did order some chicken and rice it would be drenched in sauces, but I just went along with it because I didn’t want to be a difficult holiday buddy.  By the 3^rd and 4^th day I felt like a walking waterbed. My denim shorts no longer fit me and I was tired all the time. Training was hard because all my joints were aching from all the excess fluid. And by the end of the week I barely recogised myself, my body shape had completely changed and I felt horrible from the inside out!

After coming home and only 2 days back into my usual routine I already feel so much better! But needless to say I have a lot of hard work to do to get back to how I was feeling before hand.

So back to the quote, this really made me remember how food can really effect the way we feel from the inside out. No matter how hard you train every day, if your eating whatever you want and indulging a little too often then this can counteract any hard work your putting in at the gym! Food is a fuel and your body is like a car so it makes sense that you wouldn’t put unleaded fuel in a car that needs premium or it wont run properly, same thing goes for your body. You want to feel good from the inside first so you have to give it the right fuel. If you feel good on the inside then the results will shine through on the outside. Consistency is the key, you can ruin months worth of hard work in less than a week. Its ok to enjoy yourself but make sure its in moderation and listen to your body, it has amazing ways of telling you how it fees and what it needs :).