BrainChocolate

Read Time (Total): 10 minutes
Read Time (Bold): 3 minutes

About two weeks ago I sat down for a few hours with the goal of of creating a menu for myself of food that I love, that I can eat large amounts of–I average 3600 calories per day as a result of my exercise routine–and that takes very little time to make.

Now, I’ve looked around quite a bit for some good diets and as anyone who knows what they’re talking about will tell you, fad diets generally do not work and are not as healthy as they claim. I’ll spare you from long rants about the shortcomings of fad diets–though I will say that low-carb diets are worst of all if you’re an active person–and move on to what works.

Whether you’re trying to lose thirty pounds of fat, gain twenty pounds of muscle, or if you just want to get cut and toned, I have good news for you: all you have to do is design yourself a diet, tweak it a couple times, and you’ll be amazed at the results. I know, I know, it’s nothing that hasn’t been said a million times before but most people don’t realize how easy it is.

The Basics

Carbs
You best eat for your body type. I’ll write a full post on these three macronutrients but just know this: the more energy you expend, the more carbs you’ll need–but not all carbs are created equal. Go for carbs with a lower Glycemic Index (GI), carbs which take longer to convert into sugar and are less likely to be stored as fat.

Fat
Eat as little saturated fat as possible, stay away from trans fat like the plague, and focus on eating unsaturated fat. Ten to thirty percent of your caloric intake should be fat depending on what you’re going for.

Protein
As far as protein goes, you want to make sure you’re getting complete proteins and enough of them. If you’re trying to gain weight you’ll want to eat more protein than if you’re trying to lose it and you need the proper balance of carbs to protein for maximum absorption effectiveness. Here are some general guidelines for protein intake based on activity level:

Low Activity: eat 0.8g of protein/kg of body weight per day
Active (Endurance/toning): 1.1g/kg
Active (Strength training/muscle building): 1.6g/kg

Now, on to the good stuff. Mix and match these meals and rotate through various fruits and veggies if you’d like. You’ll notice that this food guide has legumes as a centerpiece and that’s because they’re packed full of protein and other nutrients but are extremely low in fat. You even get a near perfect proportion of carbs to protein from them.

Repeat-eating the same foods has gotten a bad rep since most of the food Americans eat is so bad for you. However, if you have a well designed diet, having a moderate repertoire of foods that you repeat, mix, and match is actually the best thing you can do. With this menu you can take a couple hours on Sunday to prepare a few meals and only spend 5-10 minutes in the kitchen per meal for the week. Don’t be afraid to make your own additions.

Last thing. if you’re trying to overhaul your diet, don’t feel bad about going back to the foods you used to eat every now and then. The best way to transition to a new eating style is to do it gradually because you taste buds need time to change the foods they prefer. That’s why if you’re used to drinking 2% milk, skim tastes like water. If you want to change to skim from 2%, drink 1% for a couple weeks then go to skim and after a couple of weeks 2% will taste too fatty and skim will be just right. Same goes for changing your diet.

So…

[Click the links for the recipes]

Meal 1

-Lentil Soup [Note: I HATE legumes so I wanted to find recipes that would make me want to eat them. I succeeded.]
-Whole Wheat Ciabatta/French Bread (Olive Oil/Balsamic/Fresh Cracked Pepper)
-Korean Spinach Salad
-Granola Parfait

Meal 2

-Brown Rice Pasta with Marinara Sauce and Chicken Sausage
-Black Beans (Cumin, Red Pepper, Lime Juice)
-Carrots/Broccoli Microwaved (Lime Juice and Margarine)

Meal 3

-Split Pea/Sweet Potato Soup
-Chicken Breast
-Beet Salad

Meal 4

-Chickpea Stew
-Whole Wheat Ciabatta/French Bread (Olive Oil/Balsamic)
-Asparagus

Meal 5

-Southwestern Steak
-Black Beans (Cumin, Red Pepper, Lime Juice)
-Asparagus

Meal 6

-Chili
-Corn tortillas

Meal 7

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSrR0CsbGWs]
-Fish (Salmon or Tuna)
-Whole Grain Brown Rice
-Asparagus
-Beet Salad

For the hardcore of you out there here are some pretty sweet tools:

Calorie Count: Search for any food and it will give you a breakdown of it’s nutritional value by brand and cooking method.

Calorie Calculator: Input your ideal percentages of carbs>protein>fat and it’ll tell you how many grams/day and gram/meal you should eat.

Glycemic Index Search Engine: Search either by food type or find foods by inputting the GI you’re looking for.

Fast, Healthy Meals: Fast, healthy, tasty meals that take only 20 minutes to make. New set of meals every couple of weeks.

Written by Nathan Schmitt