As I started on P90X I didn’t know very much about health and fitness. I had to do a ton of research to find out what would work right for me. There are a couple things I want to touch on here. First and probably most importantly is the nutrition. We need to do things to change our food culture if we are going to be successful in our journey!
Beverages
For my first round of P90X my nutrition was ok. Probably a year before starting we had already made some changes to how my family was eating. The biggest thing we did was to eliminate soda pop! This is probably one of the greatest obstacles facing our obese nation. Soda pop is one of the worst, calorie dense, nutrition empty items we put in our bodies, without a second thought. As far as my family we now drink a ton of water. We keep two gallons of water in the refrigerator and even with us gone to work during the day, we still have to fill one up every day! Plus I drink a ton of water at work (thank you office water cooler). For my kids, we have all kinds of calorie free flavor packets and we bought everyone their own water bottle. My kids love picking out a flavor and making their own water. Who would of thought?
Salt
We cut out the salt! And boy howdy, once we did I was amazed at the natural flavors that I had been missing out on. There is already enough salt naturally occurring in our food. I have been amazed at how much flavor was actually hidden by salt!
Vegetables
Growing up (and I mean from birth to age 35) I hated vegetables. When I started reading about all the benefits of vegetables and all the good stuff, I started to venture out and try more things. I have been pleasantly surprised. Much of my distaste of veggies was not actually distaste; rather I would call it ignorance! I didn’t know how good vegetables taste. Again, I attribute part of this to removing salt from our diet. I use to cover everything with salt and I have discovered that perhaps it wasn’t vegetables I didn’t like. Maybe, just maybe it was all the salt. Just saying.
Fish
I grew up with a fishing pole in my hand! I know first-hand how good fresh fish tastes. Growing up in Wyoming I had ample opportunity to eat some of the best fish, from some of the cleanest water. Once I moved to
Kansas my eating of fresh fish came to an end. Not because it isn’t an option, but because I had spent my entire life eating the fish we caught and I was in a new place that was so completely different from home, I just lost my passion for being in the outdoors. However, now we make fish a regular part of our weekly meals. True it isn’t fish I catch personally, but it still has the same nutrients and omega 3′s that are important for our bodies!
Fast Food
I was guilty of stopping to grab a fast food breakfast whenever I had a chance. I can’t imagine the years that robbed from my life. I am taking them all back now! Because of busy schedules we will still sometimes have to grab fast food, but now I know better what not to get! There aren’t a lot of healthy choices out there when it comes to fast food, but if you are picky and dedicated, you can make the right choices. For instance, now for breakfast I never stop for a quickie breakfast. Instead I have my Shakeology and it starts my day right!
I don’t know all there is to know about nutrition. I don’t want to seem like I do. What I do know is I learn more every day and I want to learn more. Because it is an important part of living a healthy life. It takes a lot of work to change your life! Is it worth it? Absolutely! I would say as a nation that is struggling with obesity, our first step needs to be changing our food culture!
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You’ve clearly come a long way of your journey Coach.great job and great post. Soda is toxic…strong word, I know, but just so bad for your body in so many ways (regular or diet). My kids drink nothing but water and they’re two of the happiest, healthiest, energetic kids you’d ever want to meet. I haven’t found any flavor packets that don’t have sugar, artificial sweeteners or artificial flavors or colors…all bad for people big and small…so my kids don’t use them. You may want to try adding a little pure pomegranate juice…maybe a couple of oz. to a full glass of water for flavor and sweetness if they need it. It’s awesome you’ve reduced your salt intake. You didn’t mention it but you’ve probably also eliminated refined sugars (white, cane, HFCS, etc,) and artificial sweeteners…also pretty bad if you donthe research. Again, my hats off to you for making such awesome changes in your nutrition!
You are absolutely right Britt! Yeah the refined sugars (especially HFCS) are a big one we work to avoid. There use to be a time when my grocery shopping consisted of only looking at prices. Now I look at the nutrition information and price is far less important than quality nutrition! Keep working hard!
-Coach R
Coach – thanks for sharing this. I’m making these dietary changes right now, for the same reasons. What’s interesting is that once you get into a habit of eating simple foods like steamed veggies and baked fish, you lose the craving for salty foods, or fast foods. They don’t seem as appealing anymore. I guess that’s a good thing!