Anytime the topic of discussion in my blogs, articles or newsletters has turned
to my own personal grocery shopping list, there has always been a spike in
interest. It seems that many people are not only curious about what foods a
natural bodybuilder eats to maintain single digit body fat, but they also want
to be taken by the hand and told exactly what foods to eat themselves while on
fat-burning or muscle building programs. That’s why I decided to put together
four separate “top 10” lists of healthy foods that burn fat and build muscle.
Exact quantities and menus are not listed, just the individual foods, and of
course my food intake does vary. I aim to get as many different varieties of
fruits and vegetables as possible over the course of every week and there are a
lot of substitutions made, so you are not seeing the full list of everything I
eat, only what foods I eat most of the time.
I also want to point out that while I don’t believe that extreme low carbs are
necessary or most effective when you look at the long term, research has shown
that there are some definite advantages to a low to moderate carb and higher
protein diet for fat loss purposes. These include reduced appetite, higher
thermic effect of food and “automatic” calorie control.
Personally, I reduce my carb
intake moderately and temporarily prior to bodybuilding competitions.
Specifically, it’s the foods that are on the starchy carbs and grains list
that go down during the brief pre-competition period when I’m working on
that really “ripped” look. I keep the green and fibrous veggie intake very
high however, along with large amounts of lean protein, small amounts of
fruit, and adequate amounts of essential fats.
This list reflects my personal preferences, so this is not a prescription
to all readers to eat as I do. It’s very important for compliance to
choose foods you enjoy and to have the option for a wide variety of
choices.
In the past several years, nutrition and obesity
research - in studying ALL types of diets - has continued to conclude that
almost any hypocaloric diet that is not completely “moronic” can work, at least
in the short term.
It’s not so much about the high carb - low carb argument or any other debate as
much as it is about calorie control and compliance. The trouble is, restricted
diets and staying in a calorie deficit is difficult, so most people can’t stick
with any program and they fall off the wagon, whichever wagon that may be.
I believe that a lot of our attention needs to shift away from pointless debates
(for example, low carb vs. high carb is getting really old… so like… get over it
everyone, its a calorie deficit that makes you lose weight, not the amount of
carbs).
Instead, our focus should shift towards these questions:
* How can we build an eating program that we can enjoy while still getting us
leaner and healthier?
* How can we build an eating program that helps us control calories?
* How can we build an eating program that improves compliance?
Here’s one good answer: Eat a wide variety of high nutrient density, low calorie
density foods that you enjoy which still fit within healthy, fat-burning,
muscle-building guidelines!
Here are the lists of foods I choose to achieve these three outcomes. This
eating plan is not difficult to stick with at all, by the way. I enjoy eating
like this and it feels almost weird not to eat like this after doing it for so
long.
Remember, habits work in both directions, and as motivational speaker Jim Rohn
has said, “Bad habits are easy to form and hard to live with and good habits are
hard to form but easy to live with.”
These are listed in the order I frequently consume them. So for example, if
oatmeal is on the top of the list, it means that is the food I am most likely to
eat every single day.
My 10 top natural starchy carb and whole grains
1. Oatmeal (old fashioned)
2. Yams
3. Brown rice (a favorite is basmati, a long grain aromatic rice)
4. Sweet potatoes (almost same as yams)
5. Multi grain hot cereal (mix or barley, oats, rye. titricale and a few others)
6. White potatoes
7. 100% whole wheat bread
8. 100% whole wheat pasta
9. Beans (great for healthy chili recipes)
10. Cream of rice hot cereal
Note: I DO include healthy fats as well, such as walnuts, almonds, extra
virgin olive oil, flaxseeds, flaxseed oil (supplement - not to cook with),
avocado and a few others.
Also, I do eat dairy products and have nothing against them, nor am I lactose
intolerant. I simply don’t eat as much dairy as the rest of the stuff on my
lists. When I eat dairy, its usually skim milk, low or non fat cottage cheese,
low or non fat yogurt and low or non fat cheese (great for omelettes).
Last but not least, I usually follow a compliance rate of about 95%, which means
I take two or three meals per week of whatever I want (stuff that is NOT on
these lists - like pizza, sushi, big fatty restaurant steaks, etc)
I hope you found this helpful and interesting. Keep in mind, this is MY food
list, and although you probably couldn’t go wrong to emulate it, you need to
choose natural foods you enjoy in order to develop habits you can stick with
long term. In the fruits and vegetables categories alone, there are hundreds of
other choices out there, so enjoy them all!
About the Author
Tom Venuto
is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, personal trainer, gym
owner, freelance writer & author of Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle, Fat Burning Secrets of
the World's Best Bodybuilders and Fitness Models. Tom has
written over 140 articles and has been featured in IRONMAN
magazine, Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Muscle-Zine,
Exercise for Men and Men's Exercise. Tom is the Fat Loss
Expert for
Global-Fitness.com and the nutrition editor for Female
Muscle.com and his articles are featured regularly on hundreds
of websites on the web.
Foods That Burn Body Fat: Top 10 Lists
(September 14th, 2007)
