When I explain the basics of good nutrition to clients one huge issue that comes up time and time again is how boring healthy food is. I explain that to succeed on a diet of natural based foods you must absolutely be creative and explore food more. Looking up new recipes, knowing where to source good quality, unusual foods, how to use herbs, spices and oils are all essential to creating delicious, satiating meals that will kick sugar cravings and provide consistent energy levels.
It’s not easy, food suddenly takes on a bigger role in your life and it involves a timely process of re-educating yourself and your taste buds.
Today convenience has become almost synonymous with processed and it doesn’t need to be. There are a wealth of readily available, easily prepared natural based foods to hand, you just need to venture beyond your comfort zone (and your supermarket).
I have always been a foodie so I love reading recipe books, going to farmers markets and trawling health stores to find new and exciting ingredients for stews, soups, roast, cakes or energy bars. I love reading about the nutrients and their benefits and creating dishes crammed with goodness.
However, when I first met Matt he was a very different story, his staple diet was at least five bowls of cereal a day, towers of bagels smoothered in jam and peanut butter and the rest was just pasta, pasta, pasta with a different sauce each evening. Yet last night (at 9pm!) He cooked up a batch of delicious, homemade lamb burgers flavoured with red onions, tomato puree, organic mixed herbs and Himalayan salt, apparently “the best burgers he’d ever tasted!” At first I felt a little usurped of my household culinary status but this was quickly followed with an immense sense of pride at how much he has transformed his diet over the last few years. And trust me this is a man that will never stand for bland or boring food and yet now eats an incredibly clean and lean diet.
Everyone that knows Matt knows his favourite past time (after training of course) is eating, and I mean EATING. The first time I saw him put away a Nando’s platter I christened him Desperate Dan. Even my mum who loves feeding the 5000 at mealtimes admitted defeat when she met Matt “He’s exhausting!!!!”
In the years I have known him I have never heard him once announce that he is full, even sometimes keeping food on his bedside table in case he wakes up hungry throughout the night.
The reason I explain all this is that Matt has become a shining example to all Fitter Londoners, if there is anyone who has to be organised, creative and prioritise food to keep his diet healthy its Matt. And as a man that loves food it has to taste good. Salad leaves and a slab of meat won’t cut it. Everything I learn about nutrition I rabbit in Matt’s ear and he always takes it on board (except when it comes to ice cream!) You may have seen him posting up his meals every day and I hope you feel inspired, the bread, the pasta, the bagels are all gone and he still manages to put together (large!) delicious combinations of marinated meats, fish and vegetables. He has been trawling through the Primal Blueprint Solution by Mark Sissons and Everyday Paleo by Sarah Fragoso looking for new ideas and getting excited about concocting new dishes.
It’s not easy, food suddenly takes on a bigger role in your life and it involves a timely process of re-educating yourself and your taste buds.
Today convenience has become almost synonymous with processed and it doesn’t need to be. There are a wealth of readily available, easily prepared natural based foods to hand, you just need to venture beyond your comfort zone (and your supermarket).
I have always been a foodie so I love reading recipe books, going to farmers markets and trawling health stores to find new and exciting ingredients for stews, soups, roast, cakes or energy bars. I love reading about the nutrients and their benefits and creating dishes crammed with goodness.
However, when I first met Matt he was a very different story, his staple diet was at least five bowls of cereal a day, towers of bagels smoothered in jam and peanut butter and the rest was just pasta, pasta, pasta with a different sauce each evening. Yet last night (at 9pm!) He cooked up a batch of delicious, homemade lamb burgers flavoured with red onions, tomato puree, organic mixed herbs and Himalayan salt, apparently “the best burgers he’d ever tasted!” At first I felt a little usurped of my household culinary status but this was quickly followed with an immense sense of pride at how much he has transformed his diet over the last few years. And trust me this is a man that will never stand for bland or boring food and yet now eats an incredibly clean and lean diet.
Everyone that knows Matt knows his favourite past time (after training of course) is eating, and I mean EATING. The first time I saw him put away a Nando’s platter I christened him Desperate Dan. Even my mum who loves feeding the 5000 at mealtimes admitted defeat when she met Matt “He’s exhausting!!!!”
In the years I have known him I have never heard him once announce that he is full, even sometimes keeping food on his bedside table in case he wakes up hungry throughout the night.
The reason I explain all this is that Matt has become a shining example to all Fitter Londoners, if there is anyone who has to be organised, creative and prioritise food to keep his diet healthy its Matt. And as a man that loves food it has to taste good. Salad leaves and a slab of meat won’t cut it. Everything I learn about nutrition I rabbit in Matt’s ear and he always takes it on board (except when it comes to ice cream!) You may have seen him posting up his meals every day and I hope you feel inspired, the bread, the pasta, the bagels are all gone and he still manages to put together (large!) delicious combinations of marinated meats, fish and vegetables. He has been trawling through the Primal Blueprint Solution by Mark Sissons and Everyday Paleo by Sarah Fragoso looking for new ideas and getting excited about concocting new dishes.
Often clients believe that as trainers we work a few hours a day and have lots of spare time to roast veggies and potter off to Borough Market to pick up some grass fed steak. In fact we leave the house at 5.30am each day and rarely get home before 8- 9pm. At the weekend we stock up and plan and it means we get to get to eat delicious food all week long. Don't get me wrong sometimes it is a total pain in the backside to even consider what to have for breakfast lunch and dinner when you get home shattered but you soon regret it when stuck with a miserable portion of chicken +leaves from a salad bar for lunch.
So this blog is a big shout out to Matt for showing everyone that making healthy food a priority really pays off and doesn't need to be a painful process nor should you ever feel deprived. He will keep posting his meals to illustrate that life goes beyond the salad bowl and who knows maybe one day The Naked Primal Chef will hit our TV screens.
So this blog is a big shout out to Matt for showing everyone that making healthy food a priority really pays off and doesn't need to be a painful process nor should you ever feel deprived. He will keep posting his meals to illustrate that life goes beyond the salad bowl and who knows maybe one day The Naked Primal Chef will hit our TV screens.
Go Matt!! :)
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