Archive for the ‘Nutrition Tip’ Category

How Much Protein Should I Eat in a Day?

Thursday, February 15th, 2024
How Much Protein Should I Eat

Hardcore bodybuilders, powerlifters, weightlifters, and even most other athletes eat a ton of protein in a day. OK, they don’t eat a “ton”, but they do eat more than the average person. There are myths and stories about professional bodybuilders and strongmen who eat 300-500 grams of protein each day. Most of us can’t follow that prescription so we end up with the nagging question, “how much protein should I eat in a day?” This leaves us with a number of additional oft-debated questions, such as:

“How much protein do the professionals eat?”

“Exactly how much protein do I eat?”

“How much protein is appropriate for me?”

“Can I physically eat ‘too much’ protein?”

“If so, what are the side effects?”

“Exactly how much is ‘too much’?”

Let’s stop to consider all of the factors that go into determining how much protein we should eat.

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Should You Switch to Whey Isolate?

Wednesday, November 29th, 2023
whey isolate protein smoothies


Taking whey protein can be helpful for anyone looking to build muscle, improve recovery after exercise, or simply boost their daily protein intake. There are two main types of whey protein: whey isolate and whey concentrate. This article will explore the difference between the two and help you decide which is best for you.

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3 Reasons Protein Intake is Vital for Muscle Growth

Friday, April 28th, 2023
building muscle with protein intake

Building muscle is part of every fitness journey. While strength training plays a big role in achieving ripped abs, strong calves, or Popeye biceps, sufficient high-quality protein intake is essential for weight loss and optimal muscle growth.  This is because amino acids in protein act as building blocks to repair muscle tears that occur during exercise, support muscle tissue, and help you feel full longer which fuels muscle mass development.  

Research shows that proper protein intake is important for muscle growth because it increases muscle mass, optimizes the metabolism when consumed at the right time, and burns fat layers under the skin to help with better muscle definition to show off those gains.

Check out the 3 ways adequate protein intake can boost your muscle growth.

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Healthy Grab and Go Snacks: From A Personal Trainer

Thursday, April 6th, 2023
Healthy grab and go snacks

Being a fitness trainer is an exceptionally challenging job that not only requires your expertise in helping others to achieve their fitness goals but also demands that you look after your physique on a daily routine. As a busy personal trainer, I am always searching for the best grab and go snacks that I can consume regularly to maintain my healthy appetite. 

The perfect diet does not exist but with an evaluated plan that effectively contributes to your health, you can easily manage to get your fitness right on track just like a personal trainer myself. Let me take you through my day-to-day snacks and meals that make me maintain a balanced diet while helping in my fitness journey.

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10 Tips to Manage Cravings with Healthy Foods

Friday, December 9th, 2022
girl running away from snacks

You are a hardworking person who gets up early, works a full day, exercises, and takes care of the kids at night. Life sure is easy, right? Riiiight… Something is already telling me you could use some tips to manage cravings during your weakest hours.

OK, maybe your story is a little different, but most likely you are living a busy life, full of stress, anxiety, and deadlines. While you sit at your desk or drive your car, your daydreams shift to thoughts of salty chips or a smooth, sweet chocolate bar. You most likely are not thinking about healthy foods.

Don’t fret, it’s perfectly normal to have food cravings. When you constantly give in to your cravings and overindulge, is when you pay the price. Go ahead and accept your cravings as part of life, but also be aware that you can take action to prevent going overboard.

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The Project Shred Diet

Sunday, October 16th, 2022

Just in time for the new year! Lose fat quickly and safely on this 21-day fat-loss shred diet!

Disclaimer: the author is no longer a certified nutritionist and has not been a certified nutritionist since the mid-2000s. Use these diet guidelines and meal plans at your own risk.

Mermaid Abs from the Project Swole shred diet

To spare you from having to read this entire post to learn the premise, here is a quick summary of the Project Shred Diet:

  • A PDF that you can print out, containing meal plans that you can easily follow.
  • A strict diet is used to lose fat in 21 days.
  • A guideline for your post-diet lifestyle eating habits.
  • A detox diet is used to clean out your system of processed garbage.
  • A higher protein diet potentially allows muscle gains while losing fat.
  • Input from no less than 2 certified sports nutritionists.
  • I personally tried it, and it works!
  • Skip all the bunk and check out the meal plans.

Judging by a recent Swole Poll, most Project Swole readers want to build muscle – 53% to be exact. However, 33% of you are looking to lose fat and I’d wager a guess that at least 50% of the muscle-builders will, at some point, switch their goals to losing fat. Therefore I can say that if you are one of the 60+% of Project Swole readers that will eventually want to lose fat, then this article is for you.

The Project Shred Diet is, in fact, a diet plan that you can follow for the recommended 21 days or longer. There are 7 days of carefully planned out meals – 3 full meals and 2-3 optional snacks per day. Each of the 7 days can be switched and swapped around as you prefer. To get the most benefit try to hit all 7 days before repeating. Some food substitutions can be made within reason. I’ll tell you all about the rules in a moment.

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What is Fructose – Can it Make or Break Your Dream Body?

Thursday, September 29th, 2022
man eats apple, wonders what is fructose?

There’s lots of sugar out there. Some are just plain unhealthy to consume, others, like fructose, should have a place in your diet, even if sparingly. So what is fructose?

Fructose is one of the three foundation sugars that are found in our foods. Fructose combines with glucose and galactose to form the sugars that we see on the ingredient lists. When fructose is combined with glucose you get traditional sugar which means that sugar is 50% fructose.

Fructose, aka fruit sugar, is what makes fruit taste sweet and helps to intensify the flavor of the fruit. However, the fructose in fruit varies depending on the fruit. The fruit with the most fructose is the common apple, though some people mistakening believe it to be the banana.

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How To Eat a Balanced Diet

Saturday, June 4th, 2022
balanced diet power bowl

Eating a balanced diet may sound cliché. Who doesn’t know that every meal should have carbohydrates, proteins, and vitamins? Even the laziest of people can whip up a healthy balanced meal. 

Here are 5 tips you can use today to start transitioning your lifestyle to a healthier balanced diet.

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Body Builder Diet: 7 Secrets to a Successful Bodybuilding Diet

Monday, April 25th, 2022
Benefits of Bodybuilding

If you think that lighting heavy weights on its own is enough to build muscle and maintain progress, you couldn’t be more wrong! A successful body builder diet is crucial, some would say 75% responsible, for gaining/maintaining muscle while also losing fat.

Building muscle is hard, and maintaining your progress is even harder.

It’s not enough to just go to the gym a few times a week. You also need to make sure you have the right body builder diet if you want to see results.

But don’t worry. Keep reading because this article will teach you everything you need to know about bodybuilding nutrition so that you can finally achieve the physique you’ve always wanted.

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Top 10 Best Juices For Health and Fitness

Thursday, April 7th, 2022
Best Juices For Health and Fitness

In today’s world recovering from the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, healthcare and wellbeing is a priority for everyone now. There’s been a sharp rise in awareness of our mental health and physical goodness. And therefore, we are doing our best to shift from an unhealthy lifestyle through small but significant steps. Nutrition is a huge part of staying healthy, we can use some of these best juices for health and fitness to add vitamins and minerals to our daily routine. Just be careful not to overdo it due to all of the sugars typically found in fruit and veggie juices.

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Top 5 Most Popular Intermittent Fasting Methods

Monday, March 14th, 2022
Popular Intermittent Fasting Methods to get you ripped

Intermittent fasting (IF) is a highly popular health trend. It’s claimed to reduce weight, improve metabolism, and even boost lifespan. Each of the most popular intermittent fasting methods involves a way of eating using regular short-term fasts. These fasts help you consume fewer calories and optimize hormones related to weight management. If your goal is to improve your eating habits this type of diet strategy could help you significantly.

Let’s take a look at 5 popular intermittent fasting methods and the benefits to your weight loss and your health.

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5 Nutrients To Help Overcome Addiction

Thursday, March 10th, 2022
Nutrients To Help Overcome Addiction

Over the years, I’ve been addicted to various substances. It was only natural for me to seek fast relief while my brain was malfunctioning and I was suffering from mental illness. Until I could find better, long-term, sustainable answers, I had to rely on substances outside my body – even if they weren’t beneficial for me. I set out to learn as much as I can about nutrients to help overcome addiction, and between research studies and feedback from recovering addicts, I attempted to put together this list to help others.

At the time, I honestly felt that I didn’t have any other options. And I’m sure there are a lot of other folks out there who are dealing with the same issue. You might feel as if you require something to help you get through the day. Then there’s something more to do to get to sleep at night.

It could be alcohol, cigarettes, cannabis, or more potent drugs like cocaine, heroin, or methamphetamines. Perhaps you’re using antidepressants or benzodiazepines on a prescription basis. You may have no idea how you would survive without them.

You can do it, and I’m here to tell you that you can. 

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5 Reasons to Hydrate Before a Workout

Tuesday, February 15th, 2022
fit guy's reasons to hydrate

No matter how you work out or for how long, taking a water bottle with you and remembering to drink is important. You may wonder what exactly the health benefits are to staying hydrated. Learning more about the reasons to hydrate and the role water plays in your bodily health can help you remember to eat foods with water in them and drink after an intense workout.

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How Much Water Should You Drink?

Monday, February 14th, 2022
Dr. John Berardi

Since the late 1990’s Dr. John Berardi has published 8 scientific abstracts; 15 scientific papers and textbook chapters; presented at nearly 50 scientific, exercise, and nutrition-related conferences; and published countless articles online.

His first articles at Testosterone Magazine so many years ago provided me with the basis for everything I knew about nutrition in my early years as a personal trainer. Now I will turn some of that knowledge over to you in the form of Nutrition Tips written by Dr. Berardi himself.

Today’s Topic – How Much Water You Should Drink

Water is important for maintaining proper health.

Drink Water

I have always advocated drinking at least a gallon of water a day, but then some media outlets over-hype the fact that drinking too much water can make you sick, so people sometimes dismiss the importance of drinking water. So whatever you believe, the all-important question must still be answered, how much water should you drink?

I think it all had to do with some radio contest to see who could drink the most water in the shortest amount of time. The fact is that you would have to drink many gallons of water in a short time frame to make yourself sick.

Let’s take a look at a few reasons why you should basically drink as much water as possible each day.

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5 Best Diets To Try in 2022

Wednesday, February 9th, 2022
diets to try in 2022 - the cheeseburger diet?

You’ve finally decided that you want to take on the challenge to eat healthier. There are plenty of diets to try in 2022. Lots of research and experimenting with all different diet strategies means lots of different possibilities that can better suit your body and your lifestyle. 

Keep in mind when we talk about ‘diet’ we are not necessarily talking about a temporary fad diet. Diet strategies such as plant-based, ketogenic, and paleo can be the basis of a dieting phase, but it is recommended to take what works for you to incorporate into your overall nutritional strategy and lifestyle habits.

Here’s a great list of a handful of the best diets to try in 2022 to kickstart a healthier lifestyle.

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Top 5 Post-Workout Foods

Friday, February 4th, 2022

Eating immediately following a workout isn’t always the first thing on your mind, but it’s important to replenish fluids and at least some nutrients soon after working out. You certainly shouldn’t sit down to a big meal of post-workout foods, but a small to moderately-sized meal is essential to your body’s recovery process. Without sufficient replenishment, you can dip down into low energy, moodiness, and compromise muscle recovery.

post-workout foods
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How Much Fat Should I Eat in a Day?

Thursday, January 13th, 2022
How Much Fat Should I Eat

Almost all nutritious food has fat in it. Fats are used for a variety of purposes including transporting vital nutrients to cells, assisting in the digestion of certain foods, and providing us with energy in times of nutrient depletion. To be healthy you can’t, and shouldn’t, stay away from fat. Still, we find ourselves asking: how much fat should I eat in a day? What are the pros and cons of eating low-fat or fat-free? What kind of fat should I be eating most? Which foods provide healthy fats and which foods will kill me quickly?

As with my other articles how many carbs to eat in a day and how much protein to eat in a day, all depends on a couple of factors:

Butter
  • current bodyweight
  • dietary goals
  • cholesterol profile
  • activity level
  • lifestyle
  • time of day

The American Heart Association recommends limiting dietary fat to 30% of total calories. Take into consideration, however, if you are overweight, need to lower blood cholesterol, or have another medical concern, you may need less than the recommended 30%.

Let’s stop to consider all of the factors that go into determining how much fat we should eat.

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How to Improve Your Body Composition With Diet and Exercise

Wednesday, January 12th, 2022
improve your body composition like this fit man

Carrying extra weight around has many negative side effects. It can lead to everything from serious health conditions to unnecessary pain. If you’re considering trying to shed some extra weight this year, dieting and exercise are crucial for long-lasting change. The effort should not necessarily be about “losing weight” thought, right? You want to focus on how to improve your body composition by losing fat and gaining muscle in order to keep your metabolism as high as possible.

Let’s think about a few of the most important lifestyle habits we’ll need to change in order to get our body composition moving in the right direction.

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How to Structure Eating Habits For Maximum Workout Efficiency

Monday, January 10th, 2022
Eating habits to build muscle

Your workouts and meals are directly connected. What you eat and when you have it can impact the effectiveness of your exercise routine. Eating correctly based on your training is the best way to get the results you want to see. What we need to do is structure eating habits based on our sleep and training schedules.

Here are some tips to help you eat right to maximize the results of your workout sessions. 

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The Carb to Protein Ratio Diet

Friday, December 31st, 2021
Dr. John Berardi

Since the late 1990’s Dr. John Berardi has published 8 scientific abstracts; 15 scientific papers and textbook chapters; presented at nearly 50 scientific, exercise, and nutrition-related conferences; and published countless articles online.

Berardi’s articles at Testosterone Magazine so many years ago provided me with the foundation of my fitness and nutrition knowledge today. If you want to know more about the Carb to Protein Ratio Diet, this is the man to ask.

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