If you’re reading this post, you’ve already decided to take the journey towards a healthier you. So first, congratulations!

Just look through our Recipe Book and you’ll notice that we’ve made a point to keep the recipes rather simple. You won’t come across anything that you find to be too difficult, regardless of your cooking experience, or lack thereof! We also use commonly available ingredients, regardless of the season. With that said, there are a few ingredients that you may be unfamiliar with, for example, a sauce called Coconut Aminos. Otherwise, Whole Foods or your local health food shop should be able to satisfy your nutrition needs.

Each day we’ll generate five recipes for you: breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks. Generally speaking, the breakfast recipes are very simple, taking anywhere from one to twenty minutes to prepare. Lunches can take a bit longer, but can be prepared in advance and refrigerated or frozen. Dinners are the most time consuming, but some of the prep time does not require your attention (for example, you may need to allow the meat to marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes). All of the snacks are convenient and easy to carry.

It’s possible that you may see a meal or ingredient that you don’t like. Here’s how you can handle that:

• If it’s a meal that you don’t like, feel free to have the leftovers from a past meal. Leftover dinners can be eaten as lunch, and vice versa.
• If it’s an ingredient that you don’t like, substitute it for the closest equivalent. For example, if the recipe calls for “5 ounces of shrimp”, you may want to substitute it for 5 ounces of scallops, clams, mussels or oysters. If you’re not a fan of mollusks, then take a step ashore to land animals, like chicken, turkey or lamb.

All meals contain a portion of protein and healthy fats, and should be adequate to make you feel content, not full, nor hungry. For this reason, you may find it necessary to adjust your portion size. If you do, make sure you keep the following in mind:

• First, realize that there’s a good chance that you’ll initially have some cravings. This is normal, but stay strong! Within three weeks, your cravings will subside and nearly disappear, to the point that you’ll have full control over your cravings.
• Second, if you’re sticking with the diet, but get hungry, feel free to increase the portion sizes, but do so in the following way: first, increase the vegetable portion by as much as possible. If that’s still not enough, increase the protein portion by up to half. Lastly, if it’s an exercise day and you feel very hungry, you may add one additional snack.
• Naturally, if the portions are too large, reduce them to your liking.

What about drinks? Feel free to have as much water, unsweetened tea, and up to four 6 ounce cups of coffee per day.

The final pointer is in regards to what you should do if you’re unable to follow your plan for a meal, a day or a weekend. For example, you’re at a barbecue, wedding or at a restaurant. You’ll need to be very careful at these times, as it’s easy to get knocked off course in these instances. Don’t worry, though; if you follow these rules, you’ll be just fine:

• Load your plate up with as many veggies as possible. Make sure they aren’t deep fried and avoid those with heavy dressings. Stick with olive oil, coconut oil, vinegars, or butter, with some salt and pepper, whenever possible.
• If there’s an unprocessed protein source available (for example, chicken breast, seafood, steak, eggs – not hotdogs, sausage, etc.), feel free to indulge.
• Try to avoid the starches, especially French fries, onion rings, bread and fried rice.
• For dessert try to stick with a fruit salad or berries. If you find yourself unable to resist a dessert, remind yourself that it’s all about portion size.

So, there you have it. A few simple tips and rules to ensure that your healthy eating seamlessly combines with your workouts, and lives up to your health expectations!