Since you’ve all been asking, here it is……..

Before I switch roles of Kortney, over to Log… (Log, as in food log), let me write down some basic principles you should take note of if you’re serious about taking your future and well-being into the responsibility of your own hands.  Just remember we wanna focus on,  “practice, not perfection” ……  (freakin’ LOVE sayin’ that!)

A. To the best of your giant ability, make sure you drink 64oz, or 2L of purified, or fresh spring water a day.  I can’t stress the importance of keeping your body hydrated.  Our bodies are made up of over 80% water, so why the hell wouldn’t you want to suck it down!?  Ok, don’t be a smartass…we all know that water can be HELLA boring!  However, there are some tricks you can bust out to liven up your H2O.  Although it’s best to drink it as it is, it’s still better to get it down one way or another, even if ya have to add stuff to it.  I use a 64oz. Kleen Kanteen to gauge if I’ve had enough water for the day.  I try to make sure I drink at least one full kanteen a day, if not 1.5-2.  I’ve been on a kick of adding half a tube of zipfizz to my kanteen for added flavor and pizzaz!  Zipfizz unfortunately only ships within the U.S.  But something similar like Emergen-C, would work as well.  Adding something like this, doesn’t have a load of sugar, or fake-ass chemicals (well, at least not as many as in most alternatives like cyrstal lite, etc).  Also, drinking water with fresh lemon or lime juice straight from the fruit itself, is BRILLIANT!  Especially if you eat a high-protein diet, or have a history of gout.  The acidity from the juice helps break up any crystalization parties goin’ on within your liver.  (you’ll notice I speak in layman terms very frequently…. no need to get the text books out.)

b.portion control- use the palm of your hand as a guide. drink a glass of water before you eat to help fill you up.  just because you’re eating something healthy, doesn’t mean that if you eat more than your body can use as energy, it won’t get stored as healthy food to be used as energy later… sorry! it all gets stored as fat.  yup.

C.6-7…8 is great: hours of sleep!  your body actually does it’s healing and growing during the sleep cycle, not in the gym, or on the couch whilst you sip your morning coffee.  also, cortisol, a steroid hormone,  (glucocorticoid) is produced by the adrenal gland. It is released in response to stress and a low level of blood sugar.  this has been proven to have a direct correlation with belly fat!  so if ya ever feel bloated, go to sleep or meditate!

D.watch your sodium intake.  sodium always doesn’t come in an obvious form of something tasting like salt.  have you ever looked at how many grams of sodium are in an average protein bar?  try and keep your sodium under 2500, to 2000mg a day.

E.regardless of what your fitness/health ‘goals’ might be, your body is designed to be taking in fuel every 2-3 hours!  I remember back in the days of jr. high and watching the movie “Clueless” with Alicia Silverstone.  It was the way of the valley girl trying to loose weight, “I totally pigged out today!”, “OMG! I had 3 red vines, 2 animal crackers, and a bag of top ramen! I feel like such a heffer!”.  I have been guilty of it as well in the past, however, I know now not to leave home without some kind of treasure buried in my bag!  it takes a little bit of planning, cooking, or preparing to make a lifestyle change.  you can’t expect to be ‘in a rush’, and on a lunch break, rocking up to a McDonalds, hoping you’ll be able to find a cup of raw almonds, and a fresh Greek burger patty with spinach and feta cheese in it, waiting for you behind the counter.  HAHA! now that is a funny thought!

F.alas… you gotta make sure your body is getting a fair amount of healthy fats in your daily intake of ‘fuel’.  I say ‘fuel’ because I look at my body as an engine.  my body is my vessel, my portal… you only get one of these high powered machines in your lifetime, so why not make it a v-12 instead of an old 4-banger or even 6-cylinder?  treat it like a re-built 65 chevy impala with 22” rims, instead of some beat-ass 1995 Saab convertible or Saturn sedan with an oil leak.  Once your body feels safe, and knows it is getting those critical “good” fats, then it will start letting go more easily, of the stored “bad” fats.  Learning the difference between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ fats will be another blog post.

the sample meal plan  (based off of yours truly… me)  *always, always, always eat a veggie or fruit with most meal*

wake up 6:30a… (breakfast- means you are breaking your fast…. critical you EAT!… at least an apple, something!)
black coffee (I used to use splenda,truvia, or stevia to sweeten up my ‘christian crank’, but found artificial sweeteners would leave me craving MORE sweet sh*t throughout the day… NO GOOD!  Even adding a little milk, soy milk, or cream to your coffee, especially if  you’re like me and drink about 3 or 4, ads a ton of extra crap calories to your list)
**if you are trying to loose weight, tone up, diet down,  or anything closely related, you’ll want to avoid carb’s in the a.m.**carbs are for the 2-3 hour window AFTER your workout**
I take my morning supplements (another video coming up!), then usually eat no later than 30 mins after getting up.  On a side note, a lot of people argue doing cardio on an empty stomach is beneficial to increasing your level of weight loss.  I, however, have learned to NEVER do ANYTHING on an empty stomach, or I act like a complete psychotic biooooooooooooooooootch!

some kind of egg breakfast: poached eggs (I normally eat 6, but only eat 1 or 2 of the yolks…. also don’t be cheap on this one.  get free range, omega 3-6 enriched eggs, organic if possible)… egg white omlette w/ fresh spinach, or tiny bit of avacado (good fat)… scrambled eggs with low sodium turkey sliced up, etc.  if you’re vegan, there are some really good vegan foods out there I’ve recently discovered which I’ll add later.

9am- quarter cup of raw almonds and a piece of fruit. (I swear I was a squirrel in my past life… I LOVE NUTS!  I have to leave an actual measuring cup in the bag, or I’ll go overboard and eat the entire bag in one day.  although the almond is a great source of these ‘good’ fats I speak of, they can also be ‘not-so-good’ fats rather quickly if you eat more than you intended to.   Also, stick to non-tropical fruits for a majority of your diet.  Sure, everyone loves a little mango or the kiwi superfruit from time to time, however, don’t suck em down every day. although mostly beneficial, fruit can also spike up your insulin levels with the surplus of sugar from too much fruit.  I stick to fuji apples (have to be hard… hate soggy apples!) or pears.

10:30-11:30/12p workout! woo ha!!  (during my workout I drink off my 64oz ‘kleen kanteen’ which is filled with 2 servings of BCAA’s and a zipfizz!…. BCAA’s are about one of the only supplements ya really need if you’re into your fitness program knee-deep… again, another future blog update)

12:05- eating some kind of lean protein straight after working out. if I don’t bring it, chances are I’ll get distracted and forget to eat it when I get home.  after working out, it’s critical to get some kind of fuel back in your body.  I  generally bring some kind of left-over from the night before like a turkey patty or meatball(s), 2-3 hard boiled eggs (again, don’t eat the yolk, especially if you had a few with breaky, and/or if your Scandanavian genetics cause you to have higher levels of cholesterol!).  the age-old debate of protein powder vs. ‘real’ food, will forever be just that; a debate!  I keep it simple, and do whatever’s easiest for me at the time.  if I don’t have any food in the fridge to throw in my purse (yea, I roll around with a burger patty wrapped in tin foil in my purse, so what!?), I’ll take a protein shaker cup with 1 scoop of some kind of whey protein all ready to rock and roll.   a bbq chicken breast…

1-1:30… maybe 2p?  1 baked or bbq yammed (I usually like to cut a yam up into slices and put it on the bbq, or slice it even thinner, and bake em in the oven so they turn into mock potato chips! yes, I even made a video of that for ya!), OR a cup of brown rice (DEF get a rice cooker.  I forgot to add that in the “ideal kitchen” blog posted a few weeks back). for a veggie I tend to steam a lot of broccoli or asparagus at once, and have it in the fridge, ready to rock n roll.  A cut up chicken breast on top of my rice, or whatever is left-over from the night before, like almond crusted prawns.

4:30-5p  Dinner!  what’s the old man cookin’ tonight?!  Lean steak with broccoli and blended carrot/parsnip soup?! (sounds difficult to make, but it’s probably easier than toasting toast.  and you guessed it!  I made a video of that also!)

7:30-8p I’ll eat some more of whatever we cooked for dinner, usually(haha! I said “we”).  if I have a sweet tooth, I’ll eat something like a date.  Another great ‘tool’ I use when I want to just start eating for the sake of eating, is make some tea.  I’m a tea whore.  I’ll admit it.  I have probably over 20 different types of tea in my cupboard as we speak.  it can be quite refreshing, and filling.

10p- the chances of me being hungry, and on the look-out for some kind of snack, are highly likely.  I might blend a protein shake in the blender, or have a scoop of my AWESOME semi- homemade peanut butter. (I’ll make a video on that as well).  basically, a good rule of thumb is, if you’re hungry, EAT SOMETHING! whoever came up with the idea of starving yourself to loose weight, should be deemed to wearing a post-it note that says “kick me” on their back, for life.

The best bit on this entire blog, is going to be the link I post here in about 30 seconds.    This is the link to a highly intelligent, highly recommended Professor out of Canada.  The program is what I base my meals off of.  The principles are straight in line with what took me close to 8 years to figure out on my own.  I refer to my recipe book as my safety blanket.  If I can cook miraculous things out of this book, ANYONE can.  The best part is, you’ll learn how to properly fuel your body, and see how easy it is to eat gourmet and delicious meals, without using very many ingredients… and low in cost.

A staggering 75-85% of your fitness goals results, are going to come STRAIGHT FROM WHAT YOU PUT IN YOUR MOUTH!  so keep walkin or runnin on that treadmill boys and girls… you can do it till the cows come home.  HOWEVER, if you don’t get your nutrition figured out (and it’s really not rocket science… as I said before) and in order, then you might as well toss the towel in and say ‘screw it’.

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/cmd.php?af=1405245        This link is a direct avenue to purchasing the program I use.  It is by far one of the best purchases I’ve ever made.  Under $100, you can change your life by doing a little education, and spending a little time on yourself.  I’m also an affiliate of the company, so make sure you use the link.  Once the team at precision nutrition see’s I sent you, they’ll pay extra special attention to the processing of your very own bible

Tosca Reno “the eat-clean diet, recharged!” is another source of great learning.  This book it easy to read, has lots of pictures and charts, and breaks down nutrition into something an elementary school child could read and understand.