"Love with Limits"

Caution: "Dieting" rant ahead!

Rae wrote a terrific post last week about her take on the Figure lifestyle and I am often asked what makes my preparation different and what my approach to eating is, what do I eat and how often do I eat?

For a start, I hate the word "diet" with a passion. "Diet" to me conjures up images of restriction, boredom, guilt and displeasure. Eating the same thing day in day out because that is what you've been told to eat by your "trainer" is a "diet". Living by rules such as no carbs after 3pm constitutes the "diet" mentality. Pretty stupid really if you train at night. No eating after 7pm - not really practical if you're a shift worker and you don't go to bed until midnight.

Basically what I'm trying to say is that "dieters" make up these rules that make no scientific sense and try to create an artificial set of parameters by which to live by. Sorry kids, but that sort of behaviour comes back to bite you on the butt. Why, because after awhile you can feel both emotionally and physically deprived.

It has been shown in many studies that people who diet tend to lose their innate ability to naturally regulate their food intake - this is called "counter regulation".

In order to be successful and stay lean in the long term it is important to recognize that

1) All foods are morally neutral. There is no such thing as "naughty food", except maybe for Rae's Meat Pie Pizza (only because it looks terrible). You can choose to eat it IF you want it, but do you really feel like it?

2) You will be more hungry on some days and less hungry on others and this fluctuates with your menstrual cycle (if you're a woman). Better to apply the 200 calorie, not 2000 calorie rule and have a little extra. Your body just may be trying to tell you something.

3) It is natural to overeat on occasion - the food looks good or it's a celebration or you're stressed out, tired etc. It's happened before and it will happen again ...guaranteed. Knowing this reduces the appeal of a "binge".

What does this mean for someone wanting to become lean for life? It doesn't mean running around stuffing yourself with abandon or scarfing down every junk food known to man. It means following a few nutritional basics and listening to your body - enjoying a nice restaurant meal every now and again without wondering what the macronutrient breakdown is and enjoying what you eat. I eat a lot of fruit and vegetables and lean sources of protein. I love spice and lots of flavour. I try new recipes all the time, even during comp prep and I keep my palate happy! Every now and again I have a nice dessert. The "secret" is all about balance.

For example I've tried two new recipes in the past three days. One was red curry chicken burgers with salad and baby potatoes. (red curry paste, onions, egg, breadcrumbs, chicken breast mince) and tonight I'm trying a beef stirfry with baby corn, snow peas, purple cabbage and red capsicum, plenty of ginger and garlic too. Nothing like a bit of colour to brighten your day.

My other thought of the day: Enjoy the journey - sure the end is the icing on the cake, but all the training in between is an awful lot of fun.