Nutritional Advice for a Six Pack Abs
The truth is you don’t need surgery to get the body of your dreams. You are the only one responsible for your success. If you want abs, 80% of your results will rely on your diet. YOU are the only person who controls what you put in your body. If your friends or family are not supporting you in your efforts to get lean, let them know you are serious about reaching this goal and that your eating habits are going to change. Sure you may get a few odd looks and some people may feel uncomfortable around you because you are making them feel guilty about what they eat, but just stay focused. The results will be amazing!
I am not going to lie to you and tell you that eating for six pack abs is easy. Getting proper nutrition is an ongoing effort. If you break your diet, DO NOT GIVE UP! If you give into temptation, admit you made a mistake, and try even harder to eat clean. Depending on your current eating habits you may find this step easier than others. Even if you have the worst eating habits, you can still get six pack abs, but it will require time to develop clean eating habits. You are capable of achieving great abs. Here is what you need to know to eat for better abdominals.
Quality over Quantity
Is a calorie just a calorie, or does the quality of that calorie matter? Many people cautiously check the nutrition statements on their food, but do they know the difference between quality ingredients? You can count calories all you want, but if you are eating poor quality calories, your results will be limited at best.
Imagine you have a clone, and that clone eats the same amount of calories but from chocolate bars. Now imagine you get all your calories from whole food. Who will look (and feel) better? You would look and feel better than your clone of course! This is an extreme example, but it doesn’t have to be that extreme.
Let’s say you and your clone are both trying to “Get In Shape.” Your clone eats heavily processed, so called “Healthy Foods and Meals,” while you cook and eat fresh veggies and meats. Again, who is going to look and feel better? That’s right, you win again.
Many of these 'get fit quick' meal programs solely focus on restricting the quantity of calories in your diet, and completely ignore the quality of those calories. As a matter of fact, most of those 'get fit quick' meal programs use extremely low quality foods and ingredients in them. Why? Because, high quality food is not cheap and if they used high quality food they would not be able to make a profit. Remember, you get what you pay for. To get abs, feed your body with only high quality foods. That means eat whole foods, not highly processed foods.
In general, processed foods digest quickly causing sharp changes in your body chemistry and can easily lead to fat storage. This happens for a few reasons:
1. When food is grinded or milled the surface area of the food is enlarged. This enlargement of the surface makes it easier for your stomach acids to digest the food, thus increasing the rate at which your food is digested.
2. Isolated food compounds often loose key ingredients which would slow digestion such as fiber, protein, or fats. Without a layer of fiber, protein or fat these foods will digest much faster than whole foods.
3. Enhanced foods are foods that have vitamins, minerals and other additive added to the food to enhance the product. Unfortunately, the body does not absorb these additives as well as it would from whole foods. So foods that claim to be enhanced with certain vitamins generally are not as healthy for you as whole foods with the same vitamins. For instance, When whole grains are refined, the bran and the coat of the grain are often removed. Some nutrients are lost, most significantly fiber. Then, during the enrichment process, nutrients may be artificially added back in, but even after enrichment, the final product is likely to be less nutritious than the whole grains you started with.
4. Manufactured foods are composed of various processed food ingredients. These ingredients are processed in massive amounts to enable them to be self stable (prevent them from rotting). It is not uncommon for processed foods to be high in salt and other preservatives. Even if the processed food is labeled “healthy” it will not nurture your body the same as whole foods.
Fast foods and processed products are packed with trans fats, empty carbohydrates and calories.
Now, I want you to change the way you think about food. Most people see food as a pleasure. “They enjoy food.” Really? It takes you a few minutes to eat a tasty meal but are you willing to sabotage your body because you enjoyed that food? Well, I enjoy food also. I enjoy how I can control my body because of the food I choose to eat.
Think of your food a tool. Much like a good set of tools can make a home improvement project easier, quality whole foods make getting in shape easier as well. Whole foods are great tools that can help you get six pack abs. Most processed foods are convenient but will do little to help you reach your ultimate potential.
“But, I don’t have time to cook.”
Try cooking your food in bulk on the weekends. Stay away from the microwavable meals! Instead cook your meals and refrigerate or freeze them, so you can enjoy them throughout the week. This will ensure that you are actually getting meat, veggies and fruit in your meal and not some chemically enhanced , salty, food substitute.
“Eating whole foods sound like a lot of work.”
Your diet is crucial to your success and, it will take some work. Sure it would be easier to buy a bunch of premade meals and just pop them in the microwave, but if it was that easy, don’t you think more people would have six pack abs? Getting in great shape is a lifestyle adjustment and it does take some hard work but it is well worth it. Your body will react best to foods that are less processed. So, do yourself a favor, go to Costco and load up on wholesome foods. On the weekend cook your meal for the rest of the week and feel confident about feeding your body quality calories..
Meal Frequency
You may be shocked to hear that many people gain weight due to under eating. That’s right! The body is great at surviving, and if we under eat or starve ourselves, the body reacts by slowing down our metabolic rate. This means your body will try to store as much fat as possible on your body when you put it in starvation mode.
I have seen the unfortunate consequences of under eating with many clients who come to me thinking they have to starve themselves. After reviewing their diet I come to find out that they are already starving their bodies and begin to have them eat more frequently. As they begin to eat more frequently and workout, their appetite increases as well but I have them eat frequent meals with no limitation on calories, they just have to eat whole foods. Every client is amazed at how well my simple diet programs work for them and tell me they never thought they would lose fat by eating more.
Losing fat while eating more, sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? But it is not and there is a logical explanation.
Let me elaborate on why our body reacts this way. Way back when humans hunted and gathered food, we would experience periods with little to no food. Animals would be scarce or a drought would kill off vegetation. In times like these, our bodies would have to adapt to survive. The body would eat away at our muscle mass (Muscle requires large amount of energy to maintain) thus slowing down its metabolism, and store as much fat as possible. This adaptation is great for survival but horrible for getting six pack abs.
To prevent your body from going into a starvation state, I recommend eating six small meals throughout the day. This will ensure that your body has the proper nutrients it needs, thus prevent the body from attempting to store fat. If the body knows that food is not far away, it will not store large amount of fat around your mid section.
Now, this does not mean you can over eat or eat whatever you want. You will still need to eat a diet that is clean and has the proper macro nutrition ratios to get six pack abs, but eating every 2-3 hour will help. If you eat lean protein and complex carbohydrates in your diet you will be well on your way to getting six pack abs.
Eating frequently will prevent you from becoming hungry and craving fatty and/or sugary foods. We crave sugary or fatty food most when our blood sugars are low and our body is desperate for energy. Frequent meals will help stabilize blood sugars and prevent many of these strong cravings.
Frequent meals also help preserve muscles, thus increasing your metabolism. I mentioned this earlier but I want to stress how important this is. When the body needs protein and it is not readily available, your body will take protein from your muscles. This is a survival reaction in which the body eats itself in order to survive. Because muscle burns calories, this process also slows down your metabolism. Frequent meals help prevent this by ensuring your body always has some readily available protein.
Let review why eating frequent meals is so important:
1. Our body would rather lose muscle (Slow our Metabolism) than lose fat if we starve ourselves.
2. Eating frequent meals composed of whole food will stabilize our blood sugars and help prevent cravings.
3. Small frequent meals will help us increase muscle tone thus increasing our metabolism.
4. So next time you feel like skipping a meal… Don’t! Eat frequently and feel confident that you are eating your way to ripped six pack abs.
Water, What is a Good for?
It has been said that water is the essence of life. And it is true. If water did not exist on earth; life would not have been able to flourish. We are truly fortunate to have an abundance of this amazing elixir on our planet and yet people still do not utilize it properly.
Water is vital to every bodily process! While we may be able to survive for weeks without food, we would only survive a few days without water. Water is so important to our bodies that our bodies are composed of ~70% water. If water was not key to our survival 70% of our body would be composed of something other than water.
As a matter of fact, the aging process is due mostly to our body’s inability to effectively utilize water. We literally shrivel up as we age as out body’s water composition drops.
Water can do much more than just keep you healthy. It can keep your metabolism kicking and help you curb your cravings. Let’s start with the fat burning effects of water.
Without going into technical detail, all you need to know if that water is essential for bodily functions. Building lean muscle tone and burning fat is no exception. Water is needed for exercise because it helps rush oxygen and nutrition to your muscle by keeping your blood fluid. Drink too little water and your blood will become thick make it very difficult for your body to pump blood into your muscles. The same is true for fat metabolism. Water is needed to metabolize fat, but if you do not drink enough water, you can expect to have a hard time getting those abs to show.
Drinking water also helps you feel full. Water has zero calories and when ingested can help you feel fuller longer. This is the reason why vegetables are great fat loss foods. They tend to be high in fiber and water, both of which have zero calories!
I like to drink about a gallon of water a day throughout the day. I drink a majority of my water in the morning to help me hydrate for the rest of the day but I never drink large quantities of water at once. Drinking too much water at once can thin your blood and lead to medical complications. Spread out your water consumption throughout the day and remember, water will not only help you get six pack abs it will help you stay younger, healthier and feel better also.
Summary
I hope you found this information useful. These three nutrition tips are crucial. Eat frequent meals composed of whole foods accompanied with plenty of water. That’s all you have to do. It seems so simples and yet a majority of people in the world neglect their health by ignoring these tips. Follow them and you will soon look in the mirror to find your ripped pair of six pack abs looking back at you!
