Food choices to support your goals
Food choices can make or break your diet. Whatever phase of dieting you are in, whether it’s in a deficit to lose weight or in a surplus to build muscle or reverse diet out of the diet you were just in. Your food choices will help you feel full and satiated if you’re in a deficit or can help avoid feeling full if you are trying to increase your calories.
You may be wondering why someone would want to increase their calories. Well, if you’re reverse dieting out of a previous diet or have been following a very low calorie diet for a long time this may be necessary. I hear this all the time from women, I just can’t eat anymore, I’m just not hungry. While this may have a lot to do with beliefs that certain foods will make you fat and you are avoiding them, it doesn’t eliminate the fact that you still need to bring on more calories to bring up your metabolism and hormones and certain foods will help with that full feeling while still increasing calories at the same time.
So, let’s get started with the basic principles. You’ll want to focus on whole foods and nutrition and foods that are easy to digest first and foremost.
When you are in a deficit focus on foods that are nutrient and fiber dense, aiming to get in a greater volume of food and choosing foods that are low in carbs and fat. Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts are very filling. High water foods like spinach, squashes, cucumbers and watermelon and fiber rich berries. These are all low calorie foods that pack a nutritional punch, have a lot of volume and can fill up your plate and your stomach. Choose leaner meats like tuna, shrimp or skinless chicken breasts. Low fat dairy and nonfat greek yogurt are great choices as well. Use a cooking spray instead of oil, just don’t forget to count the sprays, they still have calories. There are a ton of low calorie dressings and condiments available as well.
When you are trying to eat more calories or in a surplus, you can choose higher fat meats like chicken thighs, skin on chicken, salmon, fattier cuts of beef and pork. Higher carb foods like potatoes, rice, pasta, breads, bananas and oatmeal. Choose and enjoy higher fat options like full fat dairy, nuts, nut butters, seeds, avocados, oils to cook with and full fat salad dressings and condiments.
I think a lot of people focus on the foods they can’t have when they’re dieting and are living with a scarcity mindset and feeling hungry. There are plenty of foods that will leave you feeling full and satisfied and coming from a place of abundance instead.
The same can be said for people that have been living in a low calorie, low carb and low fat environment for so long, they are stuck in that scarcity mindset. Use the abundance mindset to choose the foods that you have been avoiding for so long.
I hope you have found this information useful, if you know someone who may be interested in or may benefit from this info, please share it with them!
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Kathy Coté
