Hi guys, Kris from Custom Fitness here, your Amarillo personal trainer. Today I’m going to be asking you a question: Does your plate measure up? This is going to be the first part in a two part series, so be on the lookout for part two coming soon. And if you have any questions about today’s blog, then please give us a call at (806)-322-3188
This comes from a lot of people who constantly ask me: What should be on my plate? This is what I do. This is what I don’t do. Usually, the don’ts come first, and they have a list that’s like a mile, and then the dos are like, well, I can have these three things.
I can tell you that, a lot of times, nutrition should not be as complicated as what it is. What happens is we start out with this safe level of foundations, and everybody takes it and skews it in their own direction, and the biggest challenge then doesn’t become counting calories. It becomes one of the more simple ones. It just becomes: What on earth should I put on my plate because I’ve been told, “Don’t do this, and don’t have that, and restrict this,” but what’s left? What should I do?
A lot of that problem comes from our comfort zone – from our little shell that we sit in where we eat the same things over and over again. We know what we’re comfortable with. We were raised on these foods, and these recipes are what we know how to cook, and then all of the sudden we start to break into this new realm of don’t do this and don’t have that, and they pretty much take your list of comfort foods and then X them off one by one. By the end of it, you’ve got like water. Right? And there’s not much left.
Then, we have to start adding foods, which is scary because that’s change, and we know that, when we were little, we might not have liked those foods, and, “What do we do now?” and those things. Well, I’ll tell you that, as you get older, it’s great to try new foods every now and then because something that you used to not like at all might become one that at least you don’t mind but might even become one of your favorite foods.
For me, that was tomatoes. Years ago, I used to not like tomatoes at all. I would make other people pick them off of my food. I couldn’t even stand to touch the things. They were slimy and gross. Then, about 10 years ago, I tried some tomatoes for some strange reason, and, now, they’re not my favorite food, but I definitely don’t mind having them, and sometimes they add just the right flavor that I’m looking for. Everybody’s a little different on their food choices, and, as we start to grow in this nutrition side of things, we have to remember that we’ve got to be willing to be open-minded, try some new things, and not over-complicate the system.
Today is not getting too much into other realms, but we’re focusing just on the plate itself. What should be on it? How do we keep from just cutting back or just not eating this? First, we have to change our mindset. We have to think about what to do, what we can do.
A great example of this is, whenever my husband came home with his food allergies back in January, they decided that he had about six major food allergies that were causing him a lot of health issues, so we started cutting them out. The first thing that happened, keep in mind that my whole family pretty much has food allergies of some sort, but the first thing that happened was the kids came in and said, “Don’t forget you can’t have this.”
We got to sit down and have a lesson about that, about how, instead of talking about what you can’t have, we’re going to discuss what we can have. We’re going to talk about the things that we can eat because, if you live in that negative world, it’s not going to last very long. If you’re on a diet and you can’t have certain things, your brain’s going to eventually turn around and say, “You know what? This stinks, and I want to go back to where I was at before.” So, really, the first thing is changing the mindset.
Okay, well I’m going to end part one here. I hope that even though i had to cut it a bit short today, you got something good out of this first tip. In part two we are going to be discussing the last two tips which includes: plates, plate sizes, and what goes on them.
If can’t wait for part two, or you want to know more about Custom Fitness and what we do here, then please give us a call. If you’re wanting the accountability and help with creating an action plan to see results, or are wanting to someone to help create a workout plan to push you to your greatest potential, then that’s what we’re here for. Our trainers are here to look out for you and make sure that you are meeting your goals in a safe way.
At Custom Fitness, we customize a plan for you. We sit down with you and find out what your needs are and then build a health and fitness plan around that. We are here to help you navigate not only the world of fitness, but also the world of nutrition. We have an entire team of dedicated professionals to help you with your health and fitness goals. To get your consultation set up, give us a call at 806-322-3188 or email us at info@customfitness.biz At Custom Fitness, we are YOUR personal trainers in Amarillo, Texas. Have a great day.