Dr. Berardi’s Good Nutrition Rules

1) Eat every 2-3 hours – no matter what.
Now, you don’t need to eat a full meal every 2-3 hours, but you do need to eat 6-8 meals and snacks that conform to the other rules below.

2) Eat complete, lean protein each time you eat.

Complete, lean protein generally is food that, well, was an animal or comes from an animal.  Things like chicken, beef, fish, dairy, and the like.  “Lean” means low fat.  So you want stuff with protein, but low fat content (e.g., leaner cuts of meat, low fat dairy, etc.).  Are you getting protein in each meal? If not, make the change. Note: If you’re a vegetarian, this rule still applies.

3) Eat vegetables every time you eat.

That’s right, every time you eat (every 2-3 hours, right), in addition to a complete, lean protein source, you need to eat some vegetables. You can toss in a piece of fruit here and there as well. But don’t skip the veggies.

4) If want to eat a carbohydrate that’s not a fruit or a vegetable (this includes things like things rice, pasta, potatoes, etc), you can – but you’ll need to save it until after you’ve exercised.

Yes, these grains are dietary staples in North America, but remember that heart disease, diabetes and cancer are medical staples in North America – and there’s a relationship between the two!

To stop heading down the heart disease highway, reward yourself for a good workout with a good carbohydrate meal right after (your body best tolerates these carbohydrates after exercise). For the rest of the day, stick to lean protein and a delicious selection of fruits and veggies.

5) A good percentage of your diet (25-35%) must come from fat. Just be sure it’s the right kind.

There are 3 types of fat – saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated. Eating all three kinds in a healthy balance can dramatically improve your health, and even help you lose fat.

Your saturated fat should come from your animal products and you can even toss in some butter or coconut oil for cooking. Your monounsaturated fat should come from mixed nuts, olives, and olive oil. And your polyunsaturated fat should from flaxseed oil, fish oil, and mixed nuts.

6) Ditch the calorie containing drinks (including fruit juice).

In fact, all of your drinks should come from non-calorie containing beverages. Fruit juice, alcoholic drinks, and sodas – these are all to be removed from your daily fare. Your absolute best choices are water and green tea.

7) Focus on whole foods.

Most of your dietary intake should come from whole foods. There are a few times where supplement drinks and shakes are useful. Most of the time, you’ll do best with whole, largely unprocessed foods.

Have 10% foods.

I know you cringed at a few of the rules above – perhaps #6 in particular. But here’s a bit of a break. 10% of the time, you can eat whatever you want.

That’s right, you heard me.  100% nutritional discipline is never really needed to completely change your body. The difference between sticking to the rules 90% of the time and sticking to them 100% of the time is minor, really.

But here’s the catch: make sure you do the math and determine what 10% of the time really means. For example, if you’re eating 6 meals per day for 7 days of the week – that’s 42 meals. 10% of 42 meals is about 4 meals. Therefore you’re allowed to “break the rules” 4 meals each week. If you skip a meal or eat something not on the plan, that counts as breaking the rules!

9) Develop food preparation strategies.

The hardest part about eating well is making sure you can follow the 8 rules above consistently. Knowing what to eat is pretty useless if you don’t have the time to make the food.

10) Balance daily food choices with healthy variety.

Let’s face it; during a busy week you’re not going to be spending a ton of time whipping up gourmet meals. So you’re going to need a set of tasty, easy to make foods that you can eat day in and day out. However, once every day or a few times a week – you need to eat something different – something unique.  Search the web, ask around, watch the Food Network; come up with some healthy variety.