Visualize this. You were just chosen to let world famous Fitness Model, Frank Sepe, shack up in your house while he does some local photo shoots in your area. His taxi is dropping him off at your door step step in 5 minutes! And, did I mention, he'll be relying on your kitchen and food supply...
The question is this. Is your kitchen prepared for your guest? Will he look inside your fridge and be impressed with your nutritional choices or will he cancel his photo shoot and call the Extreme Makeover Kitchen Gang leaving you embarrassed and humiliated of your kitchen which resembles the same fridge of the cast from America's Next Top Model!
In this article, I am not going to tell you what and why to eat. I am assuming you already know the importance and basics of bulking and cutting and have a plan to follow. In the article, we are going to discuss how to action-steps to executing your plan effectively in 2007.
Creating a Safe House
Before the new year gets too far in, we are going to revolutionize your kitchen. The plan is start stocking your kitchen as if you have professional bodybuilders, UFC fighters and professional athletes living in your house. No point in setting the standard low. If you wish to resemble the physique of a champion - then you better start living like one. The plan is to remove all foods not conducive to your goals and replace them with foods and replace them with a variety of better choices.
Let's face it. If the food is in your possession or located anywhere in your vicinity, you will eventually eat it. Don't kid yourself otherwise.
The key is to view your home as a 'safe house.' A place where you are free from all the temptations of fast food, finger food at socials, alcoholic beverages at parties, sweets at the girlfriends house, muffins at staff meeting and salty foods on poker nights. With all this temptation potential for sabotage, you need to create a safe house you can return to each night. Here's how to do it right for 2007:
The Fridge and Pantry Makeover
Just a few days ago, I bought myself a brand new stainless steel fridge! Compared to the one I bought at a garage sale for $25, this one is beautiful. It's even more beautiful when it's stocked to the brim with muscle building ammunition. Why am I telling you this? Because, for some reason, as soon as I owned this new fridge, I felt obligated to put it to good use. When it's empty, I almost feel inadequate of being called a man's man! If you don't plan on buying a new fridge for some extra motivation, my first advice, is to empty your entire fridge and do a complete over haul. Call your mom. Call your girlfriend. Call you wife. This fridge is getting a cleaning.
Don't be surprised if you are more motivated to parallel the cleanliness of the fridge with the cleanliness of the foods inside the fridge. Little changes can go along by adjusting your personal mindset.
Here's What to Dump in the Garbage
It would be easy to write out a Top 50 list of foods that you should avoid at all costs. However the reality is that this is rarely the cause for getting fat and not achieving your goals. There are actually very few BAD FOODS. I learned from an old university professor who said, "There's no such thing as good or bad food; there is only good and bad times to each certain foods." And yes, there are some foods that you should avoid at all costs but there is not a 'David Letterman's Top 10 List.'
However, I will lay down some guidelines that will give you a better chance of seeing your six-pack sooner than later. Eating some of these foods immediately after your workout will do little harm because they will be converted right into your muscles, but you will be better off leaving them on the shelves at the grocery store.
GET RID OF THESE FOODS
SODAS AND JUICES - excluding or including can be the difference between skinny and fat. Go ahead and read for yourself on your next 'healthy' fruit juice the amount of sugar. You have two ingredients- sugar and water.
HIGH FAT PROCESSED MEAT - sausage, pepperoni, bacon and related foods are loaded with the type of fat that will shorten your lifespan, and are also loaded with sodium. Don't confuse these for good sources of protein.
FROZEN DESSERTS AND ICE CREAM - again, more sugar to transform your six pack into a keg.. Sugar and oil-laden sauces - whether it is ketchup, barbecue or horseradish sauce, the majority of nice packaged sauces are quick injections of spiced-up high fructose corn syrup.
You're better off spicing up your meals naturally without all the sugar and extra empty calories.
MOST PROCESSED FOODS - make sure your warning sirens go off when you see anything packaged in colorful wrappers, boxes, bags or containers. These foods promote 'healthiness' but fail to admit the degree of processing it went through. Do your own experiment - next time you are unsure of a processed food just take a look at the ingredient list. If you see more than 5 ingredients that you can not pronounce then you have to wonder what the heck you are putting in your body. Most of these foods have an exhaustive list of 'fillers' that preserve the shelf life and have nothing to do with nutrient value. Avoid this stuff at all cost!
CRACKERS - refer to the above but you get to choke down a mouthful of sodium too.
WHITE FLOUR PRODUCTS like white bread and bagels - manufacturers first remove the wheat seed's bran, its six outer layers, and the germ, which results in more than 75% of the vitamins and minerals being lost and over 95% of the fiber being lost. It gets worse. What little is left gets bleached in chlorine dioxide to give the bread a shelf life. It is further whitened by adding chalk, alum, and ammonium carbonate to make it feel and look more improved for the customer. An anti-aging salt that I do not even know how to spell or pronounce is added to the final stage.