Do I EAT a good amount of good food…?
Eating a balanced diet is vital for good health and wellbeing. Food provides our bodies with the energy, protein, essential fats, vitamins and minerals to live, grow and function properly. Overeating, under eating and eating the wrong things all have a negative impact on us. We cannot thrive without the right food.
The My Training program is providing you with healthy eating information and advice through the application of nationally endorsed nutritional standards and guidelines (in particular, the Australian Dietary Guidelines). Our aim is to educate you about nutrition and provide general healthy eating advice. The program will make suggestions regarding how to achieve a healthy diet:
- Your pattern of eating
- What you eat – food groups, types and amounts of foods
- Examples of healthy meals and snacks
PRINCIPLES TO FOLLOW
To gain as much benefit as possible from this program in terms of both immediate health and longer-term behaviour change, we recommend following these 4 simple principles when preparing and eating your meals:
- Eat every 2-3 hours. This means eating 5-6 meals/snacks per day. The Basic Training portal provides the framework for planning these meals. Eating regularly means you won’t get too hungry (you’re much more likely to reach for the quick sugary and fatty ‘fixes’ if you are very hungry; also, your mood is likely to drop and your ability to exercise will be impaired if you don’t fuel often enough).
- Manage your portion sizes. One of main ‘bad eating’ habits many of us have is over-eating through large portion sizes! Stick to the recommended quantities of food for each meal contained in the “Portion Sizes” link below. (It may not seem much to start with and you may feel less full than usual… but your body will adjust and sticking to PRINCIPLE 1 will combat most of the problem anyway!)
- Avoid overly processed foods. Eat real food! Consume foods that will nourish and fuel your body, foods that serve a healthy purpose! (Refer to the guidance notes on “Processed Foods” below for more information)
- Avoid refined sugar and alcohol. Added sugars may not come with helpful nutrients and can increase the energy of a food or drink, so they are sometimes called ‘energy dense’ and ‘nutrient poor’. Alcohol is nutrient poor and can lead to weight gain. Alcohol can be harmful to your health – the more alcohol you drink, the greater the risk. See PRINCIPLE 3 – eat for nutrition!
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The following links contain information that you can download and print to guide your meal planning:
- Food lists – what are the food groups that I should be eating?
- Portion Sizes – how much should I be eating?
- Processed foods – what do we mean by this term? Including things to avoid or limit…
- Recipe Ideas – more will follow over the coming weeks 🙂
- Case Study – an example weekly meal plan, and some lessons learned!
- Weekly Planner – Print Version – if you prefer to plan your meals on paper! (You’ll still need to submit your actual food through the online portal.)
So… what do you actually need to do?
Click HERE to download a printable version of a weekly planner to plan your meals. You’ll still need to fill in your and submit your online portal to record what you actually ate!
Put quite simply, “an optimum dietary pattern for adults to achieve and maintain a healthy weight is one in which nutrient requirements are met and total energy intake does not often exceed total energy expenditure.” In other words, eat food that is going to benefit you (eat for fuel), and don’t eat more than you burn off!
If you are unsure about anything then talk to the Do You Even Bootcamp!?® team and discuss ideas with each other! Remember…
UNITED STRENGTH IS STRONGER. WE ARE BETTER TOGETHER!
Note: All of the information and advice contained on this page and in the associated guidance notes has been prepared through the application of nationally endorsed nutritional standards and guidelines (in particular, the Australian Dietary Guidelines).