In order to eat properly, you need to forget the traditional concept of the word diet. The connotation is negative—the first three letters are d-i-e—and diets are viewed as quick-fix, temporary solutions. From this point forward, you will have to make a conscious decision every time you eat something. Turn off your bad-habit autopilot and ask yourself, “Will this help me achieve my goals, or sabotage them?”
Start viewing your nutrition program as a game plan for your long-term health and productivity. It’s a vital, core strategy for the rest of your life. Otherwise you take a reactive approach to eating, consuming whatever is out there, with little thought to how it affects you, in terms of both energy production and long-term health.
As with everything else in this book, I want you to be proactive about your diet. I recommend that you take 90 minutes each Saturday or Sunday to plan, shop, and prepare menus of meals for an entire week. It’s easy and fun—and it saves money and time.
The problem with many diet plans is that they make you go cold turkey. We’re not going to do that. Instead, let’s take a more realistic approach.
Let’s start in your kitchen. Think of yourself as the general manager of a sports team. In pro sports, the “GM” must work within constraints. He has a set budget. Perhaps there’s some dead weight on the roster in the form of long-term, guaranteed contracts of players now injured or ineffective. No matter how hard the GM tries, he cannot dump those contracts on someone else.
Week One: “Training Camp, 4 on 4”
We’re going to stock the pantry, refrigerator, and freezer properly. We’re going to eat four meals a day—4 days a week. The other 3 days? Try to do the same, but don’t worry if you don’t quite make it.
Week Two: “Preseason, 5 on 5”
Now we’re going to eat five meals a day—5 days a week. Again, don’t worry about the other 2 days.
Week Three: “Regular Season (and beyond), 6 on 6”
We’re going to eat six meals a day, 6 days a week. Use the other day to eat what you like.
Many people approach the assembly of their pantries and refrigerators the same way, even though they’re not bound by any constraints. There’s plenty of dead weight—both the junk in the pantry and the fat it has heaped on their bodies—but still, people continue to purchase more unhealthy food. They’re like general managers that keep acquiring underachieving, expensive players that keep the team from winning.
If you look inside your pantry and refrigerator and see foods with little nutritional value, chances are you’re not going to like what you see in the mirror either. How we look is a direct reflection of how we fuel our bodies and the amount of physical activity we engage in.
Embarking on a new nutrition program is impossible if your kitchen is filled with temptation. In order to eat properly, you must control the environment. I cannot stress enough how much our environment supports our habits, especially at home. It’s more challenging to eat right when out of the house, especially while traveling. So at least give yourself a home field advantage by stocking your kitchen properly. If there’s nothing bad in the house to eat, chances are you’re going to eat properly.
We’re going to “draft” a new team of good foods. But first, let’s cut all of those bad players from our roster. Unlike the general manager, we’re not stuck with anything. Take a trash can and go into the pantry. Toss away all those processed foods, such as cookies, crackers, snack chips, white pastas and rice, cake mixes, candy, creamy soups, sugary cereals, and soda. Open the refrigerator and discard beer, whole milk, creamy side dishes and casseroles, ice cream, fatty meats, white bread—anything that’s not a high-performance food.
Wow, look at all that space you have! Now it’s time to go to the grocery store and draft a new team of players. Don’t worry if you don’t know where to find them, even if you’ve been shopping in the same place for years. We tend to be creatures of habit, rolling down the aisles on autopilot, grabbing the same foods we’ve eaten forever. But if you take just a moment and consider some healthier alternatives, many of which taste better, you can change your life. You’ll look and feel better, have more energy, and live longer.
As you look inside that empty kitchen, you might wonder if there are any foods left out there. In fact, there are dozens. On page 50 is a list of foods we’re going to obtain. I recommend that you photocopy the list and keep it in the glove compartment of your car.
Now that you have your Core Nutrition strategies in place, we are going to arm you with a Core Nutrition shopping list and a map of the Core grocery store for recruiting the right players.
Before we go, it’s important for you to understand how to get around the field—and manage to stay in bounds. We also have provided complete scouting reports for each department and the right shopping aisles. Fuel up before you go; it’s never a good idea to shop hungry.
As you work through the grocery store, stay along the perimeter. Virtually everything you need is along the outer aisles, such as produce, fish, meat, and dairy products. Instead of going down every aisle, glance at the overhead signs to locate healthy items such as canned tuna fish, beans, frozen fruits, vegetables, protein, oatmeal, and olive oil. Leave the cart at one end and walk down the aisle. That way you avoid being tempted by cake mixes, cookies, chips, and soft drinks. And, as a bonus, you’ll save time.
Most of us learn about foods from the worst possible places—the media, and, more specifically, advertisers. Much of what we hear from these sources isn’t accurate, and what is accurate is at best incomplete. You have to fill in the blanks. Examine labels for content, especially the amounts of proteins, fats, and carbs contained. If you’re good with numbers, try to calculate the percentages of each in the food. Look at the line that tells you how many grams of sugar are in the product, then look at the list of ingredients to see what kind of sugar it is. I’ve already explained that high-fructose corn syrup (or HFCS) is to be avoided. The same goes for trans fats.
All this reading and calculating might take a few extra minutes at first, but pretty soon you’ll be able to cruise through the aisles—maybe even faster than before.
Though I use the term supermarket, I recognize that many people shop at warehouse stores. At one time, warehouse stores had a reputation for selling products only in quantities big enough to last a year or more. They still tend to sell in larger sizes than supermarkets do, but so what? Chances are that buying bigger sizes of Core Nutrition staples will save you money. You’ll also save time since you can freeze what you don’t use.
100% whole wheat bread (look for fiber)
Pumpernickel bread/products
Sourdough bread/products
Bran cereal
Kashi cereal (my personal favorite)
Black beans
Fruit, packaged with no sugar added
Kidney beans
Navy beans
Pinto beans
Tuna, water-packed
TIP: Avoid deli salads and fried foods.
Deli meats, lean and reduced-fat (turkey, chicken, roast beef, ham)
Hummus
Rotisserie chicken (remove skin and pat down chicken)
Chicken, skinless, white meat
Ground beef, 97% fat-free
Red meat and pork, lean
Salmon and other fish
Turkey, white meat
TIP: Avoid whole-milk products.
Cheese, reduced-fat
Cottage cheese, 2%, 1%, or fat-free
Juices, 100% juice, no sugar added
Milk, 1% or fat-free
Yogurt, low-fat, low-sugar
Fruits
Ice cream, low-fat, low-sugar
Juices, 100% juice, no sugar added
Kashi waffles
Soy yogurt or ice cream
Vegetables
Almonds
Canola oil
Enova oil
High-protein meal-replacement bars
Mustard
Olive oil
Peanut butter, natural
Peanuts
Salad dressing, low-fat
Sunflower seeds
Vinegar, balsamic or red wine (for salads)
TIPS: Stock it up! Cut and package produce to eat later.
Apples, red or green
Apricots
Bananas
Blueberries
Broccoli
Carrots
Cauliflower
Cucumber
Edamame
Grapefruit
Grapes, red
Green beans
Kiwifruit
Oranges
Pears
Romaine lettuce
Spinach
Strawberries
Sweet potatoes
Tofu
Tomatoes
Antioxidant complex
Calcium (for women)
Fish oil/omega-3 capsules (Udo’s
Choice Blend is one good brand)
Multivitamin
Vitamin C (500 mg)
Vitamin E (400 IU)
Whey protein powder
Coffee, regular and decaf
Dry beverages (such as Crystal Light)
Juices, 100% juice, no sugar added
Tea, green, white, and black
Water, bottled
Wine, red
Vegetables: 1 cup raw vegetables, 1⁄2 cup cooked vegetables, 3⁄4 cup vegetable juice, 1⁄2 cup cooked dry beans
Fruits: 1 medium-size fruit (1 medium apple or 1 medium pear), 1⁄2 cup canned or chopped fruit, or 3⁄4 cup fruit juice
Breads and Cereals: 1 slice of bread, 2⁄3 cup ready-to-eat cereal, 1⁄2 cup cooked rice or pasta
Protein: 4 oz meat (the size of the palm of your hand), handful of nuts, 2 Tbsp peanut butter
Fats: 1 Tbsp olive oil, 1 Tbsp Enova oil, 1 Tbsp flaxseed oil, 1 Tbsp fish oil
Dairy: 1 cup milk, 1 cup cottage cheese, 1 oz or slice of cheese
Now, let’s go aisle by aisle through the supermarket and fill your grocery cart with high-quality Core foods. We’ve provided a scouting report for each area. Now it’s time to go shopping.
Strengths: Dairy products are good sources of calcium, which supports bones. New research suggests that calcium intake may help lower body fat.
Weaknesses: Dairy products can add unnecessary calories to a meal. They often can be high in fat.
Ideal/Undervalued Players: Fat-free or 1% milk; reduced-fat cheese, cottage cheese, and cream cheese; fat-free or low-fat plain yogurt.
Pretenders: Low-fat and fat-free flavored yogurt often is loaded with empty calories in the form of sugar, which will send your blood sugar level soaring.
Bottom Line: Dairy products, in moderation, are good sources of calcium.
Strengths: It’s hard to go wrong in this section of the store. Since you want to “eat a rainbow often,” you should fill up a good chunk of your cart right here. Fruit and vegetable platters are healthy alternatives to chips and dips to serve at parties. Prepackaged salads often can be found in the deli section. Garden salads are fine, provided that the dressing is on the side. Go easy on the croutons. As always, the more color, the better. Salads with leafy spinach and romaine lettuce tend to be more colorful and nutrient-dense than those made predominantly with iceberg lettuce.
Weaknesses: None. This is the healthiest part of the supermarket.
Ideal Players: Foods rich in color and antioxidant properties, such as tomatoes, blueberries, spinach, asparagus, pomegranates, and broccoli. Salads with plenty of spinach and tomatoes are also terrific.
Undervalued Prospects: Just about any colorful, fiber-rich vegetable is undervalued. Soybeans are another power food. They’re rich in nutrients and high in protein.
Pretenders: Dried fruits and trail mixes. They’re calorie-dense and too heavy in sugar. Iceberg lettuce has little nutrient value.
Bottom Line: When choosing fruits and vegetables, fresh is the best way to go. Frozen fruit and veggies are preferable to canned goods, since nutrients are lost in the canning process.
Strengths: Lean meat is a rich and convenient source of protein.
Weaknesses: Cheese is tempting for many people. When you eat cheese, do so in moderation—ideally, treat it as a garnish.
Ideal Players: Ninety-seven-percent fat-free, deli-sliced meats, and reduced-fat, deli-sliced cheeses. Generally speaking, softer cheeses have lower fat content, whereas hard cheese usually contains more of the bad saturated fats. But eat it only in moderation.
Undervalued Prospects: Rotisserie chicken is one of my favorites. It’s flavorful, it’s precooked, and it provides several meals out of a single chicken at an affordable price. The key is to drain the fat, remove the fatty skin, and pat the bird down with a paper towel.
Pretenders: Pasta salads, potato salad, and other creamy side dishes.
Bottom Line: You always want to go for the leanest cuts of meat and cheese possible. When selecting turkey, ham, and chicken, go for a brand that’s at least 97 percent fat-free.
Strengths: This is an area where we may find some great low-glycemic, high-fiber carbohydrates.
Weaknesses: Avoid white, buttermilk, or split-top “wheat” breads; they have too much enriched flour (the stuff that’s been heavily processed). Be on the lookout for high-fructose corn syrup; it even appears in bread. Bagels and English muffins should be eaten only in the morning and with the proper toppings (natural peanut butter, light cream cheese, and so forth). As for tortillas, go for the whole wheat, low-carb version.
Ideal Players: Tough to draft an ideal player here. If you eat bread, look for “stone-ground” or “crushed wheat.” Whole wheat breads marketed as “light” generally tend to come in thinner slices, which is another way to keep from overdoing it on breads.
Undervalued Prospects: Rye, pumpernickel, and most types of sourdough typically fall in a lower range on the glycemic index than whole wheat bread. This can be an advantage in controlling blood sugar and energy. Whole wheat, however, can have more fiber than the other breads. Judging solely by glycemic rating, rye, pumpernickel, and sourdough might be superior, but because of its fiber content, whole wheat bread is the winner.
Pretenders: White breads, along with cake mixes, muffins, and brownies—pretty much the entire baked goods aisle.
Bottom Line: When choosing breads, opt for choices such as pumpernickel, rye, sourdough, or whole wheat, which have not been heavily processed. Don’t be fooled by loaves of brown bread labeled as “wheat.” If it’s not made with whole wheat flour, it’s just white bread dyed to look like something more nutritious.
Strengths: Condiments don’t add much nutritional value, but small quantities make food tasty, ensuring that you’ll stay with the program.
Weaknesses: Condiment labeling can be deceiving. Salad dressings are notoriously confusing. One manufacturer’s “low-fat” might be comparable to the standard brand of another company. Whatever you choose, go easy on the dressing. It also pays to eyeball the jelly and jam labels. The lower the sugar content, the better. Straight fruit spreads (as opposed to preserves) are preferable.
Ideal Players: Hummus (pronounced “HUMiss”) is an exotic blend of lemon, chickpeas, garlic, sesame puree, and olive oil that contains no saturated fat, cholesterol, or sugar. It also contains protein and fiber. Spices such as oregano and parsley are a great way to get flavor without adding lots of calories.
Replace butter with a lower-calorie substitute such as I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! Light. Sprays are preferable to tub margarines, since there’s a tendency to go overboard with spreads. You get better coverage and use less with the spray. Olive oil or Pam cooking spray, made from canola oil, is ideal for cooking.
Undervalued Prospects: Mustard, hummus, salsa, and horseradish are better alternatives to mayonnaise. Olive oil and balsamic vinegar are preferable to salad dressing. Extra virgin olive oil is best; it’s produced from the first pressing of olives and has less than 1 percent acidity.
Peanut butter gets a bad rap. Natural peanut butter is better than run-of-the-mill creamy brands. Pour off about half of the oil floating at the top of natural peanut butter, and mix up the rest. If you must go with a standard peanut butter, be careful with the reduced-fat products. Manufacturers tend to pour in the high-fructose corn syrup.
Replace sugar with Splenda, a no-calorie sweetener that is made, according to its Web site, “through a patented process that starts with sugar and converts it to a no-calorie, noncarbohydrate sweetener.”
Pretenders: Sugar, butter, mayonnaise, anything with high-fructose corn syrup.
Bottom Line: Spend some time reading the labels in this aisle. Whether it’s salad dressing, barbecue sauce, ketchup, or mayonnaise, it’s important to examine the grams of fat and sugar and the number of calories per serving. High-fructose corn syrup rears its ugly head often in this area, so if you are going to use condiments that contain it, do so in moderation, and pay attention to actual serving sizes.
Strengths: With breakfast being the most important meal of the day, this aisle provides the quickest and easiest options.
Weaknesses: Besides being ridiculously expensive, many cereals provide only modest nutritional value. Too often, they’re loaded with sugar and calories.
Ideal Players: The 5-minute version of old-fashioned Quaker Oats has been around forever but is still arguably the best cereal option. The 1-minute version and low-sugar prepackaged oatmeal products are more processed, but they still make a decent choice. The original Cheerios also are a good choice since they, too, are made from oats. Avoid the sugary versions of Cheerios. Lean breakfast meats and low-fat, low-sugar yogurts are also great choices.
Undervalued Prospects: Kashi’s breakfast cereals, their flavored instant oatmeal, and their frozen waffles are high in fiber and an excellent breakfast choice. Egg whites or similar substitutes are preferable to eggs. For those times when you do bake, consider replacing eggs partially or fully with egg whites. (Two egg whites are equivalent to one egg.) Again, make the best choice possible, even if you’re eating cake.
Pretenders: Sugary cereals, French toast, doughnuts, pastries, most waffles and pancakes, sugary fruit drinks.
Bottom Line: It’s important to get the day started right. Rethink that big breakfast. For instance, pancakes are permissible as long as you don’t make a complete meal out of them. There’s nothing wrong with having one pancake with, say, an egg-white omelet. Use I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! spray instead of butter on your pancake. Use syrup sparingly and look for brands with little or no sugar. Not surprisingly, syrup often is loaded with high-fructose corn syrup.
Strengths: Fish and meat are tremendous sources of protein, the building blocks of muscle.
Weaknesses: Some cuts of meat tend to be heavily marbled with those dangerous saturated animal fats.
Ideal Players: Salmon is one of the best power foods. Besides being a better source of protein than most meats, it’s loaded with omega-3 fatty acids, which have heart disease–reducing properties. Not only that, but many people also find salmon more flavorful than other fish.
Undervalued Prospects: Contrary to popular belief, lean red meat is great for you. Lean cuts are high in protein, low in fat, and great sources of iron and phosphorus. Red meat should be consumed in moderation, but there’s no reason to eliminate it from your diet.
A good strategy is to select cuts made from the animal’s muscles of locomotion. Top and bottom round are lean cuts, since they come from the rear legs. They’re named for the round bone of the femur. Flank cuts also are very lean, and cube steak is very lean. Avoid fattier, more marbled cuts such as strips, fillets, and T-bones. Lean pork is also a terrific choice, especially when grilled, or Shake ’n Baked.
Canned tuna fish is an excellent source of protein; just make sure it’s canned in water, not vegetable oil.
Pretenders: Fatty meat, battered or breaded fish, creamy seafood salads.
Bottom Line: Remember the rule: The less legs, the better. It’s tough to go wrong with fish, though it should be baked, grilled, or broiled—never fried or breaded. After fish, chicken and other types of poultry have the fewest legs. Cornish game hens are a good alternative, though like chicken they should be stripped of skin. As with fish, poultry never should be fried or breaded.
Strengths: Not many. A small, tennis-ball-size serving of pasta—preferably whole wheat or vegetable pasta—is acceptable. Go with low-sugar, meatless pasta sauce. Add lycopene-rich tomato paste and a little olive oil, or make your own sauce, adding extra-lean ground beef or turkey.
Weaknesses: Pasta is high-glycemic, and it has a very high glycemic load, meaning that a small portion can send blood sugar levels soaring.
Ideal Players: Whole wheat pasta in small quantities. When choosing rice, go with brown rice, wild rice, and seven-grain rice pilaf. Brown rice has more fiber than white rice, because it’s less processed.
Undervalued Prospects: A better alternative to rice is couscous. Pronounced “koos-koos,” it’s a staple of North African cooking and is made from durum wheat, the ideal pasta wheat because of its high protein content.
Pretenders: Overcooked pastas, white pastas, white rice.
Bottom Line: The key to pasta and rice is to go whole grain, don’t cook them very long, and look at them as a side dish, not as an entire meal.
Strengths: Low-glycemic, nutrient-dense snacks are a quick and easy way to control midafternoon hunger pangs.
Weaknesses: If you have a hankering for something sweet, try a low-sugar frozen-fruit bar. If you’re a chocoholic, go with a fat-free Fudgsicle, which is low in sugar and has just 60 calories. When choosing ice cream or frozen yogurt, look for brands that are low in fat and sugar. (A fat-free brand might be heavy in high-fructose corn syrup.) Buy small containers of ice cream, since studies suggest that the larger the container, the larger the serving a person will take.
Ideal Players: Almonds; sunflower seeds; beef jerky; low-fat yogurt with no sugar added (add in fiber with oats, nuts, seeds, or a teaspoon of flaxseed or fish oil); fruits; veggies; good protein snack bars (see below).
Undervalued Prospects: Protein bars can be a great late-afternoon “meal.” Unfortunately, many of these so-called meal-replacement bars have the same nutritional value as candy bars. Ideally, look for a snack bar that has a carbs-to-protein ratio of no more than 2:1—generally, the more protein, the better. So if a bar has 30 grams of carbs, it should have at least 15 grams of protein. Many new products have a higher ratio of protein, such as 1:2, meaning 15 grams of carbs and 30 grams of protein.
Pretenders: Granola bars, cereal bars, trail mixes, dried fruit, high-sugar yogurts, all other sugary products, salted and sugary nuts, and high-fat, low nutrient-value crackers, etc. This last option tends to be highly processed, calorie-dense, and high in sugar and/or bad fats.
Bottom Line: Individual preferences vary widely when it comes to meal-replacement bars. If you’ve had bad experiences with them in the past, give them another chance.
Strengths: Proper hydration is essential for health.
Weaknesses: For many people, life is impossible without coffee. The Core Performance Essentials program, which emphasizes proper sleep and meal timing, should wean you away from caffeine addiction. When you do drink coffee, don’t go “grande,” and don’t overdo the cream and sugar. Try Splenda instead.
If you must have soft drinks, go with a diet beverage. I don’t advocate diet soft drinks by any means—giving up soft drinks might be the easiest way for you to get more water—but if you must have them, find a diet brand you like. These will keep you hydrated, but water still is the best choice.
Ideal Players: Water is the ideal beverage. Pick up a case of 12- or 16-ounce bottles to take to work, to the gym, or in your car when you’re out running errands. If you live in an area with poor-quality water, buy gallon jugs of distilled water, or use a water filtration system.
Undervalued Prospects: Green or white tea is a great substitute for coffee. I call them “power drinks,” since they’re natural sources of antioxidants. If you must have sugar with your coffee or tea, go with Splenda. Fat-free milk or 1% is better than whole or 2%. This rule applies to all dairy products.
Be careful when choosing fruit juices or fruit drinks—they often have too much sugar and high-fructose corn syrup. Always look for alternatives that are 100 percent fruit juice. Most juice can be diluted further with water, which lowers its glycemic load per ounce. You’ll also get more out of it, which is a good thing since juice, like cereal, is usually overpriced.
Pretenders: Soda and fruit drinks. Choose sports drinks for the right reason; make sure they don’t contain high-fructose corn syrup, a standard ingredient in many sport and fruit drinks. Avoid the self-serve soda fountains at restaurants unless you’re going for the water, which, incidentally, is highly filtered and purified.
Bottom Line: Unless you’re a serious endurance athlete or strength training, someone who’s involved in running, biking, or other strenuous activities for long periods of time, you probably don’t need anything more than water. You definitely don’t need sports drinks for routine refreshment around the house or at work. (Remember: Think before you drink. Avoid drinking empty calories.)
Chapter 5 Summary: We have prepared ourselves for success by rewiring our mindset and creating powerful changes in our environment. Unlike traditional, quick-fix diet plans, the Core Nutrition program is a long-term plan to fuel your body for maximum daily energy and longterm success. Instead of requiring you to go cold turkey, this program includes a 3-week indoctrination program. Each meal should consist of a lean protein source along with low-to-mid-glycemic, colorful, and fiber-rich carbohydrates, and healthy fats in moderation. Always strive to make the best choice possible.