Personal Development: Nutrition

Ok guys, part of getting better with women overall means pushing to better yourself and developing new goals. Some of those goals for me have been: better nutrition, better fitness, and continuing to learn to cook healthy meals.

With that in mind here are some things I’ve done lately which are leading to success in some of these areas for me. Since beginning I feel like I have more energy, and my body is expelling less waste. In other words, it's using more of what I give it because it's better for me:

• I’m eating 4-5 smaller meals every day to keep my metabolism going.
• I am a calorie NAZI; I watch everything I eat and read labels religiously.
• I’ve cut down on cheeses, bad fats, sugars, and processed foods such as white bread, cookies, or other shitty snack foods. Instead I eat things like Bananas or 80 calorie yogurt.
• I cut down on alcohol to weekends only. Alcohol is a double whammy because it both slows your metabolism plus even a shot (1oz) of Grey Goose has 69 calories.
• I eat whole wheat or brown rice products, high in fiber, protein, low in fats/sugars.
• I cook my own meals so I have more control over what goes in my body.
• If by some retarded act I’m a lazy ass and don’t make my lunch, I search online for healthier, lower calorie fast food alternatives.
• I’m reading Eat THIS, not THAT!
• Cut down on "late night snacks" (unfortunately I still get the munchies after partying on Fridays and Saturdays)

Fast Food Possibilities.
Face it, fast food sucks, but some of it is somehow less bad for you than others. If you fuck up and forget to make lunch you can find fast food alternatives which are semi acceptable.Here’s some of the fast food things I've found in my area…

Carl’s Jr. Grilled BBQ Chicken Sandwich – 360 calories!
Carl’s Jr. Side salad with the low fat basalmic dressing – (125 calories)
Subway chicken breast sandwich on whole wheat, with tons of veggies, mustard, pepper, but NO MAYO OR CHEESE – 600 calories for a footlong (that’s two 300 calorie meals for 5 bucks).
Greek Salad with chicken breast from a local restaurant – few hundred calories.
Togo’s turkey and avocado – 700 calories, but it’s 2 meals.
Jack in the Box chicken fajita pita – 300 calories.

As you can see your biggest enemies are the breads, sauces, and cheeses. Watch what you eat in these areas and you can really cut down.

Here are a couple super easy meals you can make yourself at home which are super low calorie, and nutritious.

Chicken Pitas (inspired by Jack in the Crack)

• Sarah Lee whole wheat pitas, 80 cal for 2 (or something better if you find it)
• Favorite cheese shreddings
• Defrosted/Thawed chicken breast
• Red Onion strips
• Greens: Lettuce, cilantro, tomato
• Spices: Black pepper, garlic salt
• Pace medium salsa (I freaking LOVE salsa, its so low cal and full of flavor)

Directions:
Heat a small pan with virgin olive oil on medium. While it’s warming, chop the raw chicken up and toss it plus the red onion strips into the pan. Season appropriately with spices. While it’s cooking, wash and chop up your lettuce, tomato, and cilantro. Cilantro is strong so don’t use much. When everything is chopped and the chicken is done, throw it and the greens plus salsa into a whole wheat pita and top with salsa. Go EASY on the cheese, or don’t use it at all. Fucking delicious, easy, and only a couple hundred calories.

Veggie n Chicken stir fry (“Damn Mongoreans, you break down my Shitty wall!” – South Park)

• Defrosted/Thawed chicken breast
• Olive oil (virgin)
• Spices: Black pepper, Garlic Salt
• Chinese Chili Sauce (HOT)
• Soy or your favorite teriyaki (I like honey teriyaki, but look at the labels and caloric intake)
• Veggies (your choice): Water chestnut, bean sprouts, carrot dollars, asparagus, cabbage, broccoli, yellow squash, red onion, anything you might like.
  

Directions:
Heat the pan at medium with just enough oil inside to coat the bottom lightly. While it’s heating, cut your veggies to bite size. The chicken will take longer to cook so chop up the raw chicken and throw it into the pan and start cooking. Throw some spices on the chicken and keep stirring. When the chicken is ¾ done, throw in the veggies. Now spice everything up and coat with one or two teaspoons of the Chinese chili sauce, depending how spicy you like it. Throw in your favorite Soy or Teriyaki sauce. Now stir everything around well so the spices and sauce are evenly mixed! Cook until it’s done. Yummtastic, and again it’s protein and veggies so it’s good for ya!

Whole Wheat Spaghetti and Chicken Breast

• Frozen chicken breast (ralphs has an inexpensive variety which comes in a re sealable freezer bag)
• Spices: Garlic Salt, pepper
• Whole Wheat or Brown Rice pasta
• Prego or your favorite spaghetti sauce (watch calories) I got a hruge jug from Costco
• Parmesean cheese
  

Directions:
Bake the chicken breast in the oven per directions. Around half way through, pepper and lightly garlic salt the top, and then flip it over and do same to bottom. While it finishes cooking, start your spaghetti. The meat and spaghetti should be done around the same time. Drain, mix in your favorite sauce, and top with chopped baked chicken breast for protein. Lightly sprinkle parmesean cheese. Enjoy.

-MM.