Petes’ Blog - December 2019
Festive Season – A time for Mindful Training and Mindful Eating
There is an excellent documentary currently available on both iTunes and NetFlix entitled “The Game Changers”, which I would encourage all of you to watch. This short film investigates the benefits of eating a completely plant based diet. At the very last this documentary is thought provoking, as it compels the viewer to question the true nutritional value of their current diet. While some of the ‘Research’ findings in the documentary need to be treated with a certain degree of circumspection, there is no doubt that eating more vegetables is something we should all be doing, especially at this time of the year. As I have outlined in a previous blog post, current estimates on the nutrition habits of the average Australian suggest that approximately 95% of the adult population do not eat the recommended amount of 5 servings of vegetables each day of the year. What’s more is that a similar percentage of athletes also fail to eat the requisite amount of vegetables on a regular basis.
There is less than 2 weeks to Christmas! Over the course of the next two to four weeks, we are all likely to socialise more, drink more alcohol (for those of us that enjoy a glass of wine over lunch or dinner with a group of friends) and eat a lot of foods that are very different from what we would normally consume on a day to day basis. While we should all avail ourselves of this opportunity to celebrate Christmas and the rest of the festive season, we should all make an effort to make healthy choices when the time comes to put food on your plate for each of the various meals we will eat during this time of celebration. I would encourage all of you to try to ‘Eat Well’ and be mindful about what you are eating and drinking. Just as I would encourage all of you to eat clean, simple food throughout the year, the Christmas season is no reason to stray from this philosophy.
My advice to you would be to:
o Eat lots of green, leafy salads before you move on to pasta, potato or rice salads. Eat these last three salads in moderation, especially in the latter part of the day, as you probably do not need to add too many more carbs to your macro nutrient intake. Other healthy salad ideas include Caprese, Rocket Parmesan and Pear, Three-Bean and Greek salad. Where possible try to add the salad dressing to your salad and choose dressings made with extra virgin Olive oil and/or vinegar (e.g. Balsamic, Apple-Cider etc.).
o Eat from a variety of sources of lean protein, e.g. Chicken, Turkey, Seafood, Baked Leg Ham, Pork, and Lamb. If you prefer not to eat meat then Chickpeas, Lentils, Beans, Tofu, Edamame, Almonds, Peanuts, Spirulina and Quinoa are all good sources of plant-based protein.
o Include at least 2 servings of fruit each day. This can include Strawberries, Blueberries, Raspberries and Blackberries. Mangoes and all stone fruits are in season as are cherries. For lunch or dinner you could prepare a beautiful fruit platter featuring all of these fruits.
o Drink lots of water. Try to keep up your average of 2L per day. If you want to add a bit of flavour to your glass of water, try adding some fresh lemon and lime.
o When time comes for dessert at Christmas lunch or dinner try to choose a healthier option, such as the fruit platter mentioned above. If, like me, you enjoy a home-made Christmas Pudding, Fruit-mince pie or gingerbread then there is no harm in having a serving or two at either lunch or dinner but try not to go back for seconds!
o Drink alcohol in moderation. Try to drink a glass of water between each glass of wine or beer over the course of a long lunch.
o Finally when it comes to exercise make an effort to go for a walk after you have opened all of your Christmas presents and before you sit down to have breakfast. For the rest of the week, try to get up early to walk, run, do some calisthenics have a swim or a cycle so that you can relax and enjoy the remainder of each day catching up with friends and family.
I hope you have all enjoyed reading my blog articles this year as much as I have in putting them together for you. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.