Hi guys, Kris from Custom Fitness here, your Amarillo personal trainer. Today we’re going to be wrapping up the two part series on if your plate measures up. Now be sure to read part one if you haven’t already at the link here: And as always, if you have any questions about today’s blog then please give us a call at (806)-322-3188
The second thing is looking at that plate. What should it be? Well, first of all, we don’t want to eating on a typical American plate. Most of the time, if you’re looking for weight loss, then we don’t want that 12 inch plate. We want to move down to a 10 inch plate.
Now, I have to give little cautions whenever I say that because I also have people that are eating on too small of plates or eating on saucers and bread plates and things like that, and, while that seems like a great idea, if you have not had a reason to have to do that such as, say, bariatric surgery or something like that, then you need that salad-size plate, that 10 inch plate.
That helps you mentally as well as physically. It helps you to put less-sized portions on your plate, but then mentally your brain sees that that plate’s full, so it says, “Man. I’m going to be full whenever I eat this.” If you put those same smaller portions on a larger plate, then your brain says, “Mm. That’s not enough food. I’m going to be really hungry whenever I finish this,” kind of like going to one of those really fancy restaurants where they serve you like portions this size, and you have nothing left to fill you up afterwards.
That plate size is first and foremost. We’ve got to make sure we get the right size plate. What actually goes on the plate? Well, the biggest thing is we have to balance what are called our macronutrients. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not a macro counter where we’re meticulous on that, but we do have to have a certain amount of macros during the day, and our macro nutrients are our protein, fats, and carbs. We’ve got to have a balance of those. If nothing else, at least get a balanced portion of each so that we have a proper serving of protein, we have some healthy fats. Now, we do want to make sure those are healthy fats, not just any kind of fats, and that we do have a healthy portion of carbs especially if we’ve been exercising that day.
Now, whenever I talk about carbs, I wanted to go a little in detail on that because so many people think of carbs and they think of bread. Okay? You’ve got two different kinds of carbs. You’ve got starchy carbs and fibrous carbs. Starchy carbs are your grains, bread, pasta, rice, oats, corn. They are also your fruits, and they are also your starchy vegetables, things like your potatoes, your beans, your lentils, winter squash, those types of things. Those are your starchy carbs, and those are the carbs that we need to refuel us after exercise. We need some of those, and we need to utilize that as a good thing, not necessarily a bad thing.
Now, grains are something that your body does not physically have to have, but it does need some form of starchy carbs, so I encourage our clients to move more in the direction of the fruits and the starchy vegetables and save those grains for those joyful meal days whenever they get to splurge and have whatever they want. Those are great things to have in. The reason that I encourage that is because the grains are typically the place where people will overdo. If I ask them to moderate that, then they’re going to get some in to keep their minds happy but they’re not going to get so many in that it’s derailing them from their progress. Fruits and starchy vegetables are a great way to do that.
Now, the fibrous carbs, the other type of carb that we were talking about, are actually vegetable carbs. If you were to break a carrot in pieces or cut it down the side, you’re going to see fibers running down it. Right? Those fibrous carbs react differently in our body than the starchy carbs do. We need those fibrous carbs. We need a lot of them. A lot of people don’t get any of them. The more that we can to increase our vegetables the better our body is going to function, because not only is it getting that form of carb, but it’s also getting a lot of vitamins and minerals from those foods. And they’re more whole foods. You’re not getting the same processed foods as before.
If we balance that, the protein, healthy fats, and our carbs, then the third thing that we need to do is we need to make sure that our plate has lots of colors on it. Throughout the day, we’re trying to eat the rainbow if we can. It’s a really interesting process at our house because we have a child who is actually allergic to fruit and vegetable pigments, and so we don’t get to give her a lot of colors, so we do have to find creative ways to replace those vitamins that she’s missing and those vital nutrients that I can tell you that it makes a huge difference.
If you will focus on getting that rainbow of colors, you’re going to get different nutrition from each of those foods. Your purples to your yellows to your oranges to your greens, they’re all giving you different things. Yes. We’ve got spinach as a super food, for instance, but spinach is not going to give you everything that you could get from every other color. Okay? We do like those foods, but we need to be sure to broaden the spectrum and get all of the different colors.
The next time that you go to put your plate together, instead of thinking about what you can’t have, focus on: I need a protein. I need a vegetable. I need a healthy fat. If I have exercised, I probably need that starchy carb on there too. And how many colors do I have on my plate?
Well, that is going to wrap up our series on if your plate measures up! Now I hope that you all learned something that will benefit you.
So, if you are 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. We work with our clients not just on fitness, but also nutrition. What we do is we will ensure that you are supported throughout every aspect of your health and wellness journey, and that includes making those eating changes. 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.