If you haven’t yet signed up for the Wairua Fitness 10 Week Challenge, you’re missing out on something big… A body transformation!
Some of you will have taken part in Wairua Fitness challenges before, and we know they deliver you results, how do we know? Because we measure those results, our mantra is “If you’re not assessing your guessing”.
We find that all of you that take part embrace the training that is part of the 10 Week Challenge with gusto, you come along to classes and give it your all. Past experience shows us that the element of the challenge that causes the most concern and trepidation for you is the nutritional side of the challenge. So if you’re still weighing up whether to join the challenge here are a few points to remember…
- This is NOT a diet
- You definitely won’t feel hungry – we recommend 6 (small) meals a day
- It’s about making healthy choices and thinking about food as fuel for your body
- Healthy choices are not expensive, we’re so lucky here in the Nelson area. Great local produce and farmer’s markets make shopping for fresh veggies cost effective
Nutritional Guidelines for the Wairua Fitness 10 Week Challenge:
- Eat 6 meals spread evenly throughout the day. Watch your portion sizes – switch to a smaller plate, vegetables should make up the majority of your meal with protein’s being approximately the size of your palm.
- Kick-start your metabolism! Drink 300mls of water within 30 minutes of waking up to fire up your metabolism.
- Eat protein with every meal. Protein is the second largest component of the human body after water at 15%. Good sources of protein include lean meats, chicken (skin off), fish (raw tuna and salmon is a quick and easy option), tofu, eggs, low fat yogurt, cottage cheese, feta and ricotta (All low fat options of course). Quality protein shakes within 20 mins of a training session will give your body the nutrients it’s craving for. Avoid coffee!
- Avoid starchy carbohydrates (white refined) such as potatoes, rice, bread, pasta. Eating too much starch will cause your body to store the excess sugar as fat, slowing your metabolism and resulting in fat gain.
- Go for vegetables such as spinach, silver beet, carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant, lettuce, green beans, capsicum, courgettes/ zucchini, cucumbers, cabbage, mushrooms, asparagus and any other green leafy vegetables. Different colours represent an array of vitamins and minerals so mix it up. Eat mainly green with a splash of colour. (The less cooked the vegetable the better). Raw vegetables are higher in nutrients, convenient and can aid in protein absorption.
- Drink PLENTY of water! 30-40mls per 1kg of bodyweight and even more when exercising! Water should be the primary fluid intake as water makes up 60% of human body weight. Coffee and tea are diuretic’s. This means they dehydrate you. Avoid fizzy drinks like the plague! (Ignore Zero sugar, vitamin/energy drinks; these drinks contain chemicals to replace the sweetness and may be detrimental to your health).
- Limit fruit. Fruit contains a lot of sugar (sucrose). Dehydrated fruits are 100% sugar! The antioxidants in berries have more positive benefit than negative and target “belly fat” so a few in your salad are good.
- Watch out for hidden sugars such as those in milk, dairy, fruit juice, breakfast cereals, honey, jams and of course ALCOHOL. Remember that whenever alcohol is in your system, your body will go into “STORE” mode which means that everything will get stored due to your body trying to deal with alcohol.
- Get to know your food labels. Watch out for things like – carbohydrates, sugars (sucrose, glucose, fructose, lactose etc), saturated fat (animal fat), transfat and sodium (salt).
- Eat foods in their simplest form (don’t eat processed foods like salami, sausages etc) with minimal sauces, dressings and other condiments.
- Ask the members of your family to help you with your new eating habits, ask them to change to brown rice, brown breads (wholemeal, rye, grains etc), raw sugar and brown pastas etc. These less processed – more natural options are much better for their health as well. Small sacrifices on their behalf will assist you to stay on track. Remember we are a product of our environment!
- Go low GI (Glycaemic Index). Low GI foods release energy slowly so it is more likely to be burned rather than stored as fat. High GI is the opposite releasing glucose into the bloodstream rapidly where it is transported to the cells and stored as fat.
- Add good fats into your diet such as monounsaturated fats like olive and canola oils, avocados, almonds and pecans. Also, Omega 3,6 and 9 essential fatty acids found in walnuts, pumpkin and sesame seeds, peanuts nuts, avocados, some dark green leafy vegetables and oily fish.