Diet Tips
I have many ask what does my diet consist of? Well this in itself is sometimes a loaded question and the reason that I say this is because if you are catching me during show prep time then it’s extremely strict and boring. If you are catching me at pre-shoot time it may not be as severe but then again could be much more of a carb depleting diet and if it’s just during a normal everyday week (which doesn’t happen that often) THEN it may be something you are interested in 
What I like to tell people or the advice that I give and this is to a fairly new “dieting” individual. Although I much rather prefer “lifestyle change” than diet. Diet assumes that it’s short-lived or not something that will continue on. The advice that I prefer to give people is more to change the ways they eat, to benefit from it, and then to carry this throughout the rest of their lives and always better their life if possible.
This is basically what I give as a general guideline, this is what to cut out immediately right away as most people are trying to kickstart their metabolism again. The majority of people that I have ask me questions have a problem with what to eat, what not to eat and how much, how many times a day to eat. One piece of advice that I can give, the more meals you put in a day the BETTER!!! I do six meals a day, yes that sounds like a lot and for somebody who does 2 or 3 of course it is…it’s double..BUT it will work I promise!!
The major things that I tell a person when beginning on their diet is you HAVE to cut out these major factors for at least 2 months, be very strict and then you can absolutely incorporate them back in to your diet (not all as some are just bad for you) but even the other things in MODERATION can be brought back in. What you are basically doing with this diet is “jump starting” your metabolism again because more than likely if you aren’t seeing the results and you definitely aren’t following more strict guidelines..you have probably slowed down your metabolism.
The following items should absolutely be cut out for the period of time that you need your body to acclimate to the changes. Number one you are probably cutting out a number of things that you shouldn’t be having anyway, number two you are adding more good to your body every single day (and you will feel like all you do is eat and you’re getting fat but trust me when I say YOU WILL NOT!!) So here is what I would cut out for 2 months: dairy, sugar, salt, white carbs and alcohol (I know crazy!!! lol) NO EXCEPTIONS…don’t try to switch this or that, etc just be strict for 2 months that’s all I ask
Once you have done this you should see some very big changes and as you progress in your training and diet you can learn how to incorporate some of these things back into your diet, have a cheat meal (not a cheat day) and how to handle yourself in different social situations when it comes to food!
A few other tips that I can give in terms of diet are more replacement items for some things that you may be using now. For example seasonings I always use Mrs. Dash, there is a huge variety now of flavors and it is all salt free. I use splenda (obviously) instead of sugar. Recently I was changing up somebody’s diet a bit and rather than him using wheat bread or bagel etc I recommended Ezekial bread (and it also comes in wraps, english muffins, etc so not limited to just bread). I would always substitute a white potatoe with a sweet potatoe (unless you are following some sort of show diet guidelines and are in need of white). Also of course your veggies stick with anything green and not colored (just for the initial stages of course) green beans, zucchini, spinach, asparagus, broccoli, etc.
I hope this mini guideline will help a few people out! As I stated before and I will ALWAYS say this…everyone’s body is different and along with that comes different changes and different outcomes but the initial guidelines for people can be similar. Good luck with the dieting ladies or lifestyle changes as I like to say!!!
