I have decided that one of my goals for this blog and my writing will be to help make eating better foods easier for people. There are many excellent writers out there on the topic of nutrition, but many focus most of their time on the science side of things.
This is very important, but as I read more behavioral change books I realize that to help people make good choices and change their eating behavior you must do more than appeal to their rational side and educate them on the topic. You have to make change easy.
So the question I asked myself was: Why do people not choose to eat “healthy” food when they know it is better for them?
The answers to this question vary, but some of the ones I thought of were: taste/boring, too much food prep/lack of time, expensive, unsustainable.
In today’s blog, I want to focus on the first two reasons listed above – taste and food prep.
People say that eating well is hard because they do not know how to make it taste good or that it takes too long. Well, the first reason will get better as you get over your fear of eating fat (it adds a ton of flavor and can be great for you), learn to use spices, and decrease your addiction to sugary foods.
Second, eating good, whole foods does not have to take a long time. It may just seem overwhelming at first, which is why I want you to focus on preparing one new recipe each week for a month. Try it out with your significant other or friend(s). Cooking can be quite fun – put on some music and go at it.
Eventually, you will find a collection of recipes that do not take long and taste good. This is the goal. It is always nice to be able to come home and have something easy to put together and have it still taste great.
Rules and Guidelines:
-Whole foods
-Meals centered around protein, vegetables, and fat or starch (choose starch if you just lifted weights or are looking for muscle gain. Otherwise, opt for the fat source.)
The formula I like to use for a great meal is: meat/seafood + veggies + spices + fat/starch
Here are some great sites for recipes to try:
Mark’s Daily Apply Recipe List
How to Get Started:
1. Choose a recipe from one of the links above or from another source.
2. Go shopping for the ingredients you will need.
3. Let anyone else who may be joining you know the night you are planning the meal.
4. Lastly, cook, eat, and enjoy!
I am somewhat of a simpleton and often eat the same dinner every night. I sautée up some mixed vegetables (whatever we have on hand or is in season – zucchini, squash, green beans, onions, kale, etc.) in coconut oil or grass-fed butter. I then add some type of meat in with the vegetables. My favorites are grass-fed beef or salmon.
After the meat is done cooking, I usually add some spices and another couple of tablespoons of coconut oil or grass-fed butter and stir it around for flavor.
Lastly, I peel a hard boiled egg and cut up an avocado and add those to my plate. If I know I have a heavy training session the next morning, I will also have a couple of baked sweet potatoes on the side (also with butter or coconut oil – so good!).
Let me remind you to not be afraid of consuming fat, even if you are trying to lose weight. The fat and oil is what gives the food it’s flavoring. Plus, it is good for you!
Let me know in the comments of any recipes that you consistently rely on. I would also love to hear from anyone that is going to take on this challenge. Let us know what recipes you enjoy and do not enjoy.
Have a great week everyone!
Sweet! I never really thought about it, but that’s the same formula I use for creating meals. I will be forwarding this to a few buddies who need to check this out.
Sweet! Yeah that formula works for pretty much any goal. Thanks Andrew!
Great advice! Great blog post as usual
Thanks Rufus!
Great stuff Zach. I still need to get the recipe to you for chicken braised in coconut milk with turmeric. It’s loaded with MCTs from the coconut milk and coconut oil, protein obviously, and the importance of the curcuminoids from turmeric cannot be understated.