Keepin' it clean...and I'm talking about your diet

Keep it clean and reap the benefits!

By: Jeff

Ever see those people in the gym every day, every week and every month yet never seem to change? They obviously work out, but what is the problem? They work hard and are diligent in their routines, but something doesn't add up.

What doesn't add up is what they are doing outside of the gym. You could work out an hour a day, have the most precise strategy and work your tail off while doing it, and still not see results. The missing piece of the puzzle is nutrition.

If you think of your fitness goals as a house, poor nutrition will leave you with an extremely shaky and unstable foundation. Support your fitness goals with solid nutrition and you will see gains like you've never seen before.

So with the myriad of diets and weird gimmicks on the market, what should you do? The answer is simple...keep it clean.

When it comes to eating in a Paleo or Primal fashion, it is a lifestyle not a diet. Diets are fads that wax and wane throughout our society just to eventually fade away. Remember the Adkins Diet, the Low Fat craze of the early 90's (quite possibly the worst thing ever to happen to this country from a nutritional standpoint) and of course the South Beach and Sonoma Diets? All once prominent, now gone.

All those plans have a start and an end point. Problem is, people who use these as the framework for their overall health are left wondering what to do when they've finished the plan laid out for them.

When researching a nutrition plan, the best case scenario is to find one that is flexible. This is where a Paleo or Primal lifestyle fits almost every lifestyle. Sure, it requires some sacrifice, but that is to be expected with any set of dietary guidelines. After all, if it were easy everyone would be walking around with six-pack abs.

For both the Paleo and Primal nutritional guidelines you only need to follow the nuts and bolts to see success. Stick to whole foods. Foods that have a shelf life, not ones that can sit around for 6 months and still be edible. Fruits, vegetables and lean protein sources. Eliminate breads, starches, artificial sugars and pastas.

Nicole and I have been doing a challenge from Thanksgiving until Christmas Eve. After gorging ourselves with pumpkin pie, we have eliminated all sweets, starches, artificial sugars and even alcohol from our diets for nearly a month. Both of us have been going strong and haven't cheated once since that time. The results you see from a good training regimen along with a nutritional plan like this is remarkable.

Eat as much as you want, just make it good, clean food. When the challenge ends, we won't go to eating Ben & Jerry's every night (although that is tempting with my sweet tooth), but will simply plan accordingly once a week to have something extra. It is about enjoying the holidays, having a cheat meal once in a while, but never letting it lead to a complete derailment of your progress.

Enjoy the holidays, but this time around let's keep it clean will ya?!