We know that eating “healthy” is good for you, right?
But how long have you been able to eat “healthy” for before going mad and binging on something like pizza, cookies, donuts or ice cream?
One week?
Two weeks?
Maybe a month if you’re a TOTAL machine (aka a “diet terminator”)…
Here’s the thing…
Eating healthy 100% of the time is damn near IMPOSSIBLE… especially if you have a stressful job and a hectic social life.
So telling someone they MUST eat healthy foods all the time is kind of unrealistic in my view.
Get this – this is what happened to Ben and I the other day (whilst living out here in Croatia).
We decided to try and go a week WITHOUT eating the following:
- Sugar
- Flour (bread, pasta etc)
- Vegetable oil
- Alcohol
So we got a couple of days in and we were doing well. Our resolve was strong and we’d kept our diets “clean”.
It was Sunday night and I’d decided to go to the gym, whilst Ben was out on a date. I did a leg workout, and by the end my legs were crumbling beneath me and I was drenched in sweat – I was absolutely knackered!
Now, our gym is a 30-minute walk from the house. But after that leg workout, walking the 30 minutes home now seemed like 30 miles to me — IMPOSSIBLE!
So I found myself in the Supermarket that’s just below the gym. I only had 85 Kuna (85p) in my pocket and no credit card, so my options were limited.
I wanted something with protein for recovery and some carbs for recovery. I wanted a banana and some sliced chicken breast. Alas, I couldn’t afford it.
So what did I end up with?
A 500ml bottle of CHOCOLATE MILK! I’d totally failed at avoiding the foods mentioned above. It was packed with processed sugar (but it did have 16g of protein – good for recovery).
And guess what?
Ben went round to his date’s house and she’d made him Pizza. At this point he could hardly say no, so he totally failed too!
We lasted 3 days.
So look, even us as coaches can’t eat healthy 100% of the time — it’s impossible (unless you want to be a gym-obsessed loner!).
So what did we learn from this experience (and countless before it)?
We learned that it’s UNREALISTIC to stick to a perfectly healthy diet 100% of the time.
But eating healthy is really important if you want to look great and feel great – you know that.
So what should you do?
Well it’s pretty simple, actually…
The 1-80 Rule
What’s that, I hear you ask?
It’s really simple:
“Stick to healthy 1-ingredient foods 80% of the time”
Follow this rule and you’ll be healthy whilst still being REALISTIC with your diet.
Allowing 20% of your diet to come from the foods you love helps stop those mega binges.
You know the ones. The ones you get when you ban ALL “bad” foods, then something stressful happens (like a bad day at work, relationship issues, “that time of the month” etc…) and then you turn into the Cookie Monster, devouring an entire packet of Chocolate Hobnobs in one sitting.
^^ That all-or-nothing approach almost always ends like that in our experience, and it doesn’t make you feel good either. It doesn’t have ANY contingency for “when life gets in the way”. It’s unrealistic (and boring!).
So if you want to look great, feel great and STILL be able to deal with stressful situations, the 1-80 rule will change the game for you.
But… what foods fall into the “healthy” 1-ingredient foods category?
Very simply, they’re foods with JUST ONE INGREDIENT (they usually don’t even have an “Ingredients” list).
1-ingredient foods include:
- Potatoes
- Rice
- Chicken
- Salmon
- Fresh fruit
- Fresh vegetables
Yes, you will have to get creative in the kitchen when using these!
And… What foods are NOT 1-ingredient foods?
Examples of what’s NOT a 1-ingredient food are:
- Bread
- Pasta
- Chicken kievs
- Packet sauces
- Ready meals
- Ice cream
- Pizza
- Donuts
You get the idea!
Anything beige that goes “soggy” in water is a good indicator.
But what really helps when starting out and learning this stuff is having a definitive list – a list you can use as a reference for the 1-80 rule.
That’s where our list of Foods to Eat and Avoid comes in handy!
Click here to get your hands on it: