Totally Unsubstantiated Tips

To help folks prep for this health upswing, I thought I'd post a few tips I've found useful in my streaky "lifestyle change" episodes. Use them if you'd like, ignore them if you like.

• The dinner plate portions - 1/2 your plate should be vegetables and/or fruit, 1/4 should be lean meat, 1/4 could be some carb craving - red potatoes are a pretty good choice, the occasional roll, etc. Vegetables always take preparation which is why this doesn't happen frequently, but you won't see a change in your body without a change in the type of calories you're eating. Make this your rule when preparing for dinner. It will really change the amount of food you prepare of the lean meat and carbs.
• Fresh snacks - Don't buy crackers. Don't buy chips. Don't buy granola bars. Replace all your old snacks with preservatives with fresh snacks like fruit. In the summer this is a lot easier. You should be eating as many as 4 servings of fruit a day. Melon in the morning, grapes at lunch, apple for snack. Eat fruit as your snack.
• Protein in the AM - This is a tough one, but your metabolism will start burning a lot earlier in the day if you're able to have some protein for breakfast instead of just carbs. This can be tough though because you usually think of eggs as a good morning protein, but we don't always have time for that. A light string cheese is a great alternative with some fruit on the side. When you do have time for eggs, use the fake eggs.
• Don't eat beef - You should be able to count the number of burgers you have a year on 1 hand. Now, that could be tough, but it's what we should aim for. It's time to replace the red meat with the white meat. Or just anything lean. We're talking fish, chicken, turkey , even lean pork folks. You've just got to not even think of beef as an option, that's what I've had to do. You don't even look at the beef options on a menu. Tell yourself fish is good, fish is great and eventually it will be.
• Plan, plan, plan - This is not new and I know many of you are way better at this than me, but your chances of success increase as your time planning your meals increases. And people, that planning starts at the grocery list stage (this is what I'm very good at, not to brag). You've got to sit and brainstorm what is going to be okay for you to eat. You've got to plan for the ingredients of healthy dinner meals. You've got to brainstorm healthy snack ideas, healthy breakfast ideas, healthy lunch ideas. All before you go to the store. Then YOU STICK TO THE LIST. Blinders on, just you, your pen and list. Sometimes another member of the Winn household can tend to shop in a way that I'll categorize as a bit more impulsive. Impulse buys can reek havoc on a week of health - one package of cookies will hurt the whole week. Now, that doesn't mean impulse buys are a NEVER, I'd just suggest when you're needing an impulse buy, make it something that is a single serving for each person in the house.
• And whatever you do, DON'T DRINK YOUR CALORIES. A challenge later on will be to write down everything you eat with the associated calories. You'll see how quickly the calories add up, especially when it comes to what you drink. You've only got so many calories a day and to use them on grape juice (140 cal for 8 oz) or heaven forbid liquid satan (pop), takes precious calories that I'm positive you'd rather use on food. I'd say that pretty much milk is the only caloric drink that is deserving of taking those calories. And I'd always suggest skim milk. It is one of the easiest ways to cut calories from your diet...I'm sure you'll make the change soon enough Dad:)

Well, there are a few tips to get you ready for Monday. Hope they are helpful and that we can all actually follow them. If anyone is really doing this hard core (and as I'm sure Adge, Steve, and Trevor can all attest to) you'll see and feel the most significant changes through making changes in your diet.