This is a great look into one of my favorite nutritional specialists cupboards and fridge. Awesome in site, plus some things to think about campers!
Enjoy,
-Darrin
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by Michael Geary – Certified Nutrition
Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer
In most of my Lean-Body Secrets Newsletters, I
like to provide a healthy snack or meal recipe
that not only is delicious and healthy, but
also helps to get you closer to that hard-body
appearance that everyone is looking for, while
also more importantly, improving your health
for life. In this article, I’d like to give
you healthy food ideas in a different way.
This time, I figured I’d just give you some
ideas of what I stock my fridge and cabinets
with.
Remember, if you don’t have junk around the
house, you’re less likely to eat junk. If all
you have is healthy food around the house,
you’re forced to make smart choices.
Basically, it all starts with making smart
choices and avoiding temptations when you make
your grocery store trip. Now these are just
some of my personal preferences, but perhaps
they will give you some good ideas that you’ll
enjoy.
Alright, so let’s start with the fridge. Each
week, I try to make sure I’m loaded up with
lots of varieties of fresh vegetables. During
the growing season, I only get local produce,
but obviously in winter, I have to resort to
the produce at the grocery store. Most of the
time, I make sure I have plenty of vegetables
like onions, zucchini, spinach, fresh
mushrooms, red peppers, broccoli, etc. to use
in my morning eggs. I also like to dice up
some lean chicken or turkey sausage into the
eggs, along with some swiss, jack, or goat
cheeses (preferably raw grass-fed cheeses when
I can find them).
By the way I’m talking about whole eggs, NOT
egg whites. Always remember that the yolk is
the most nutritious and nutrient dense part of
the egg, so only eating egg whites is like
throwing away the best part… and no, it’s
NOT bad for you because of the cholesterol…
eggs actually raise your GOOD cholesterol.
Try to get free range organic eggs for the
best quality. Here’s an entire article I did
on the topic of whole eggs vs egg whites.
Coconut milk is another staple in my fridge. I
like to use it to mix in with smoothies,
oatmeal, or yogurt for a rich, creamy taste.
Not only does coconut milk add a rich, creamy
taste to lots of dishes, but it’s also full of
healthy saturated fats. Yeah, you heard me…I
said healthy saturated fats! Healthy saturated
fats like medium chain triglycerides,
specifically an MCT called lauric acid. If the
idea of healthy saturated fats is foreign to
you, check out my healthy fats article
Back to the fridge, some other staples:
a.. Chopped walnuts, pecans, almonds –
delicious and great sources of healthy fats.
b.. Cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, and
yogurt – I like to mix cottage or ricotta
cheese and yogurt together with chopped nuts
and berries for a great mid-morning or
mid-afternoon meal.
c.. Whole flax seeds or chia seeds – I grind
these in a mini coffee grinder and add to
yogurt or salads. Always grind them fresh
because the omega-3 polyunsaturated fats are
highly unstable and prone to oxidation,
creating high levels of free radicals in
pre-ground flax.
d.. Whole eggs – one of natures richest
sources of nutrients (and remember, they
increase your GOOD cholesterol so stop fearing
them).
e.. Salsa – I try to get creative and try
some of the exotic varieties of salsas.
f.. Avocados – love them…plus a great
source of healthy fats, fiber, and other
nutrients. Try adding them to wraps, salads,
or sandwiches.
g.. Butter – don’t believe the naysayers;
butter adds great flavor to anything and can
be part of a healthy diet (just keep the
quantity small because it is calorie
dense…and NEVER use margarine, unless you
want to assure yourself a heart attack).
h.. Nut butters – Plain old peanut butter
has gotten a little old for me, so I get
creative and mix together almond butter with
sesame seed butter, or even cashew butter with
macadamia butter…delicious and unbeatable
nutrition!
i.. Leaf lettuce and spinach along with
shredded carrots – for salads with dinner.
j.. Home-made salad dressing – using
balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and
Udo’s Choice oil blend. This is much better
than store bought salad dressing which mostly
use highly refined soybean oil (full of
inflammation-causing free radicals).
k.. Whole grain wraps and whole grain bread
(look for wraps and bread with at least 3-4
grams of fiber per 20 grams of total carbs).
l.. Rice bran and wheat germ – these may
sound way too healthy for some, but they
actually add a nice little nutty, crunchy
taste to yogurt or smoothies, or can be added
when baking muffins or breads to add nutrients
and fiber.
Some of the staples in the freezer:
a.. Frozen berries – during the local
growing season, I only get fresh berries, but
during the other 10 months of the year, I
always keep a supply of frozen blueberries,
raspberries, blackberries, strawberries,
cherries, etc. to add to high fiber cereal,
oatmeal, cottage cheese, yogurt, or smoothies
b.. Frozen fish – I like to try a couple
different kinds of fish each week. There are
so many varieties out there, you never have to
get bored.
c.. Frozen chicken breasts – very convenient
for a quick addition to wraps or chicken
sandwiches for quick meals.
d.. Grass-fed steaks, burgers, and ground
beef – Grassfed meats have been shown to have
as high as, or even higher levels of omega-3
fatty acids than salmon (without the mercury).
Also, grass-fed meats have much higher levels
of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) compared to
typical grain-fed beef.
e.. Frozen buffalo, ostrich, venison, and
other “exotic” lean meats – Yeah, I know…I’m
weird, but I can tell you that these are some
of the healthiest meats around, and if you’re
serious about a lean healthy body, these types
of meats are much better for you than the mass
produced, hormone-pumped beef and pork that’s
sold at most grocery stores.
f.. Frozen veggies – again, when the growing
season is over and I can no longer get local
fresh produce, frozen veggies are the best
option, since they often have higher nutrient
contents compared to the fresh produce that
has been shipped thousands of miles, sitting
around for weeks before making it to your
dinner table.
Alright, now the staples in my cabinets:
a.. Various antioxidant rich teas – green,
oolong, white, rooibos are some of the best.
b.. Whole wheat or whole grain spelt pasta –
much higher fiber than normal pastas
c.. Oat bran and steel cut oats – higher
fiber than those little packs of instant oats.
d.. Cans of coconut milk – to be transferred
to a container in the fridge after opening.
e.. Brown rice and other higher fiber rice –
NEVER white rice
f.. Tomato sauces – delicious, and as I’m
sure you’ve heard a million times, they are a
great source of lycopene. Just watch out for
the brands that are loaded with nasty high
fructose corn syrup.
g.. Stevia – a natural non-caloric
sweetener, which is an excellent alternative
to the nasty chemical-laden artificial
sweeteners like aspartame, saccharine, and
sucralose.
h.. Raw honey – better than processed
honey… higher quantities of beneficial
nutrients and enzymes. Honey has even been
proven in studies to improve glucose
metabolism (how you process carbs). I use a
teaspoon or so every morning in my teas. Yes,
it is pure sugar, but at least it has some
nutritional benefits… and let’s be real, a
teaspoon of healthier raw honey is only 5
grams of carbs… certainly nothing to worry
about.
i.. Organic maple syrup – none of that high
fructose corn syrup Aunt Jemima crap…only
real maple syrup can be considered real food.
The only time I really use this (because of
the high sugar load) is added to my
post-workout smoothies to sweeten things up
and also elicit an insulin surge to push
nutrients into your muscles.
j.. Organic unsweetened cocoa powder – I
like to mix this into my smoothies for an
extra jolt of antioxidants or make my own
low-sugar hot cocoa by mixing cocoa powder
into hot milk with stevia and a couple melted
dark chocolate chunks.
k.. Cans of black or kidney beans – I like
to add a couple scoops to my Mexican wraps for
the fiber and high nutrition content. Also,
beans are surprisingly one of the best sources
of youth promoting antioxidants!
l.. Dark chocolate (as dark as possible) –
This is one of my treats that satisfies my
sweet tooth, plus provides loads of
antioxidants at the same time. It’s still
calorie dense, so I keep it to just a couple
squares; but that is enough to do the trick,
so I don’t feel like I need to go out and get
cake and ice cream to satisfy my dessert
urges.
Lastly, another thing that’s hard to go wrong
with is a good variety of fresh fruits and
berries. The staples such as bananas, apples,
oranges, pears, peaches are good, but I like
to also be a little more adventurous and
include things like yellow (aka – mexican or
champagne) mangoes, pomegranates, kumquats,
papaya, star fruit, pineapples, and others.
Also, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries,
blackberries, and cherries are some of the
most nutrient and antioxidant-dense fruits you
can eat.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this special look
into my favorite lean body meals and how I
stock my cabinets and fridge. Your tastes are
probably quite different than mine, but
hopefully this gave you some good ideas you
can use next time you’re at the grocery store
looking to stock up a healthy and delicious
pile of groceries.
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