So my enemy is and always has been cookies. They represent all that is evil and wrong with my relationship with food. Not sure why, but it a fact. The simple and easy little tasty sugary, chocolate infused morsel that I can eat quickly. Dopamine release and moving on to the next one. Why eat 1 cookie when you can eat 20? As a consequence I am always experimenting with new ways to motivate myself to say off the cookies.
So I have a new idea, that seems to have a lot of practical reasons why it works. It starts with what any good nutrition person understands. Knowing and understanding your BMR and what additional energy you will need to sustain yourself during the day. Coming up with base food that will get you to that minimal standard is what I am now calling the CORE planning. The Core is the basic energy consumption that makes up the basis for all food consumption in the day. This has been my other problem, opposite of the cookie. It is that as I increase my activity level, my calorie requirements increase as well. If I am unable to do that, or struggle then things fall apart, my energy level drops, I am no longer building muscle and tend to fall into starvation mode. Enter more cookies!
Now I have existed on a fat metabolized diet quite well. Meaning, exercising under conditions where the body uses fat as its primary energy source. That works, especially for long distance running. However, living every day life and adding other types of exercises requires the Core. So I finally dialed in some basic ideas for the Core, meaning the staple food sources that build all my eating around. Here is an example. Oatmeal, Brown Rice, Black Beans, Sweet Potato (yuck, I hate those), and Quinoa. If I built five meals around those core items, then I would achieve the levels I needed for my BMR + Exercise + Muscle Growth.
Now it is time to add the next layer. That is the STRENGTH layer. This is the protein sources. That would be meats, but I do not need a ton of those. I only need enough CORE to sustain my energy levels, and I need very little, but sufficient to improve STRENGTH. So that if I hit the basic protein requirements, I am there. Some basic meat, nuts, vegetable proteins would be enough. I can then add those.
Finally, my NUTRIENT level. This is where I eat foods to supply the necessary nutrients to live healthy. This is the vegetable and fruit area, and with today’s supplement world this is pretty easy. After that it is about taste and preference. Fats, Oils, Spices as needed.
So I am going to try this new idea out. Plan around the CORE, and sufficient STRENGTH and decorate with NUTRIENTS.
Guy Reams
