When Gourmet Meets Nutrition
by Dr. John Berardi, CSCS
Sometimes "health food" is just plain awful. And it's this simple fact
that drives some folks away from eating healthy altogether. While
I lament this fact, I have to admit I feel most sorry for those poor
folks who decide to lower their heads and keep at it — those who keep
eating miserable tasting food because they want to lose weight or
accomplish some other health or physique-type goal.
Angry because he ate a lot of bad-tasting food. And I feel sorry for them because they don't even know there's a better way. You
see, every day, there are people out there eating healthy, easy-to-make
meals that might easily be found in gourmet restaurants. Meals that
could impress the most discerning foodie. Meals that could fool a first
date, a reluctant spouse, or picky-eating kids. Meals that just plain
taste good. Meals that, when planned and eaten consistently, can
improve and even completely transform your body. And how do they do it? With the principles of what I call "gourmet nutrition." Traditionally,
the worlds of gourmet cooking and healthy nutrition have been at odds.
The gourmands have sacrificed all (including nutritional value) at the
altar of flavor and the "artistic presentation of food." And the nutritionists have sacrificed all (including flavor) at the altar of physiology and nutritional value. Yet
flavor and nutritional value are not mutually exclusive. I prefer to
think of them as absolutely reconcilable. And by using the principles
of "gourmet nutrition" you can create meals that both taste great and
are healthy, too. To this end, a "gourmet nutrition" meal must conform to the following:
It must taste great. Simply
put, to be considered "gourmet nutrition," meals must taste great, and
not only to your weightlifting friends. They must taste great to
everyone from chefs, to foodies, to guys and girls whose idea of
"gourmet" includes chocolate-mint flavored protein shakes.
It must contain lean, complete protein. Protein
is the building block of muscle. And even if you don't want to build
more muscle, you definitely want to preserve the muscle you have for as
long as you can. This helps to keep your metabolism revving, improve
your fat loss profile, and reduce cardiovascular disease risk. And
that's why I encourage you to eat a lean, complete protein source with
each gourmet meal.
It must be low in sugar and processed carbohydrates. Sugar
isn't always the demon ingredient it's made out to be, but there are
valid and strong reasons to limit sugar and processed carbohydrates in
your diet. These types of carbohydrates (when ingested outside the
workout window or in the absence of complete meals designed to slow
digestion and absorption) digest too quickly, leading to erratic blood
sugar, energy levels, and hormonal responses — none of which do your
health or physique any favors.
It must prioritize healthy fats over bad fats. Whenever
possible, the goal of every health-conscious individual should be to
eliminate the nasty trans fat we hear so much about. But even beyond
avoiding trans fats, it's important to keep our saturated fats in check
while prioritizing healthy mono and polyunsaturated fats. Gourmet
nutrition means eliminating trans fats while balancing out your
saturates, monos, and polyunsaturated.
It must control calorie intake and density. One
of the major reasons many people gain fat as they age (aside from lack
of exercise) is the fact that their daily meals are often too high in
calories. Indeed, many popular food choices can be quite calorie dense.
And this means that even though you don't feel like you're eating a lot
of food, you're packing in too many calories with each meal. To this
end, "gourmet nutrition" meals should be designed with calorie density
and portion control in mind. This helps you avoid sneaking hundreds of
extra calories into your diet with each meal, unknowingly.
It must include fresh, natural, additive-free ingredients. In
general, the fresher the ingredient, the better it is for you — and the
better tasting. So, when choosing your meals, ask yourself if you've
ever seen what you're about to eat growing in the ground or running
around on a farm somewhere. If the answer is no, you're about to eat
processed food. Ditto for anything that comes in a box or plastic
container.
Be wary of processed foods masking themselves as healthy. Please
understand it'll be next to impossible to avoid all processed foods. In
fact, there may be some processed foods that you want to include in
your diet. That's okay. Really, you just want to make sure your daily
diet draws
mostly on fresh, whole foods.
It must offer you carbs only if you "deserve" them. You've
probably read all about high carb vs. low carb dieting. In my opinion,
this high vs. low carb debate is a little misunderstood. As the body
handles carbs best when it's in an exercised state, the best carb
strategy is this:
eat carbs only if you've earned them. Have
you exercised? If so, you've earned a higher carb meal. Have you
exercised a lot? If so, you've earned even more carbs. However, keep
this in mind; if you haven't exercised, your carb intake should
probably be lower. Therefore "gourmet nutrition" means having two
categories of meals — higher carb meals (for when you've earned them)
and lower carb meals (for when you haven't).
Post Workout vs. Anytime meals. My
meal classification strategy uses the distinction between post workout
and anytime meals. Why does this classification exist? Well, research
shows us that the body handles carbohydrates best during and
immediately after exercise. From this, we know that it's a good idea to
consume most of our daily carbohydrates during and after exercise (Post
Workout). Likewise, if we haven't exercised, it's best to avoid higher
carb meals during this time — instead focusing on proteins, good fats,
and fruits and veggies. Please note that this rule is a
general rule of thumb that works well for most as a starting point.
Now, I should mention that some people are actually able to tolerate
higher carbohydrate intakes outside of the Post Workout period. These
individuals generally know who they are. They're often naturally very
lean, and sometimes very skinny. If you don't fit into that
category, you're best off consuming carbs only in the two to three
hours after an intense workout, or at least using that as the starting
point for some trial and error, slowly introducing carbs outside that
window and measuring the results. So there you have it — 8
criterion for designing "gourmet nutrition" style meals — meals that
both taste great and can help improve your body. And now that we've
defined this criterion, I'd like to share with you some wicked recipes
that personify "gourmet nutrition."
| The Protein Shake Popeye Fruit Smoothie (Post Workout) |
| Servings 1 large or 2 small |
| Prep Time and Cooking Time Prep time: 5 minutes |
Prelude Spinach
is a super-food high in anti-inflammatory nutrients, vitamins and
minerals, and alkaline potential in the body. (No wonder Popeye ate it
to boost his strength.) As a result, we try to include spinach in many
of our meals, including our shakes. And while spinach doesn't seem like
it'd be a great smoothie ingredient, this shake tastes awesome as
raspberries, goji berries, and cashews lend their unique flavors to the
mixture. |
| Ingredients 1 cup raspberries (frozen) 1 cup spinach 1 cup low-fat plain yogurt 1/2 cup low-fat milk 1/4 cup cashews 2 scoops Vanilla Low-Carb Metabolic Drive 2 tablespoons fresh goji berries |
| Instructions Combine all ingredients in a countertop blender. Blend on high until mixture is a smooth consistency. |
Variations and Options
- If
you're lactose intolerant or wish to avoid dairy, replace the 1 cup of
yogurt and 1/2 cup of milk with 1 cup of lactose-free yogurt and either
1 cup of unsweetened soy milk or 1 cup of water and 1/2 scoop protein.
Alternatively you can substitute with non-cow's milk dairy (i.e. goat
milk, yogurt, etc.)
- For a major vitamin boost, add up to 3 cups of spinach to the recipe.
- If you can't find goji berries, you can substitute with goji berry juice or raisins.
|
Nutritional Information | Per serving | large | small | | Calories (k/cal) |
780.0 |
390.0 | | Fat (g) |
20.0 |
10.0 | | SFA (g) |
3.7 |
1.9 | | MUFA (g) |
9.1 |
4.6 | | PUFA (g) |
3.7 |
1.9 | | omega-3 (g) |
0.2 |
0.1 | | omega-6 (g) |
3.0 |
1.5 | | Carbohydrates |
80.0 |
40.0 | | fiber (g) |
15.8 |
7.9 | | sugars (g) |
36.7 |
18.4 | | Protein (g) |
70.0 |
35.0 | Approximate Caloric Ratio Carbs (%) 40
Fats (%) 20
Protein (%) 40 |
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