Healthy Proteins and Carbs

Here is a list of some Healthy choices you can make when choosing your Complex Carbohydrates and Proteins.  This is just a basic list of some of the healthy carbs out there.  Be sure you are getting your vegetables and limit your fat intake.  It doesn't have to be too difficult. Just make healthy choices daily. 

Proteins

Chicken breast
Turkey breast
Lean ground turkey
Swordfish
Orange roughy
Haddock
Salmon
Tuna
Crab
Lobster
Top round steak
Top sirloin steak
Lean ground beef
Buffalo
Lean ham
Egg whites or substitutes
Trout
Low-fat cottage cheese
Turkey Bacon

Vegetable proteins are also a good choice

Tempeh
Tofu
Soy foods
Veggie burgers

Complex Carbohydrates 

Potato
Sweet potato
Yams
Squash
Pumpkin
Steamed brown rice
Steamed wild rice
Lentils
Couscous
Kashi
Whole-wheat pasta
Oatmeal
Barley
Beans (black, kidney)
Corn
Strawberries
Melon
Apple
Orange
Fat-free yogurt
Fat-free milk
Whole-wheat bread
High-fiber cereal
Whole-wheat tortilla
Whole-wheat pita bread
Whole grains

Vegetable Choices

Asparagus

Broccoli

Lettuce

Carrots
Cauliflower
Green beans
Green peppers
Mushrooms
Spinach
Tomato
Peas
Brussels sprouts
Artichoke
Cabbage
Celery
Zucchini
Cucumber
Onion

Healthy Fats

Avocado
Sunflower seeds
Pumpkin seeds
Cold-water fish
Natural peanut butter
Low-fat cheese
Low-sodium nuts
Olives and olive oil
Safflower oil
Canola oil
Sunflower oil
Flax seed oil

Try to avoid  these 

Unhealthy Fats
Butter
Mayo
Coconut oil
Cream-based sauces
Full-fat dairy products

Like I said in my earlier post, I am not a big fan of weighing and measuring  but portion size is important. So to keep it simple think of a portion of protein as the size of the palm of your hand and about as thick. (Picture a chicken breast or a lean turkey burger)  a complex carbohydrate should be the size of your fist (think baked potato or an apple) 

Again I have to remind you that I am not a doctor or a nutritionist. I follow this eating plan myself and it is a good, common sense, healthy approach to eating. It doesn't have to be all that difficult. You don't have to eat processed foods, you don't have to sit and count points and weigh and measure everything.  Although some people have great success with that kind of "dieting"...but let's be real here...can you count points and weigh everything all the time? for the rest of your life? And who in the world would want to eat that processed, prepackaged food forever? (or at all for that matter...yuck) I know I can't. 

Don't look at this as a diet...it is just healthy choices made daily...it should be the way you eat.

Do you deserve to treat yourself on occassion? Of course...if you deprive yourself of EVERYTHING you will eventually crack and then beat yourself up.  It's ok if you have a treat once in a while. Just get right back to eating healthfully right away. Everything in moderation...find a balance that works for you. 

If you continue to train at Michael Pam's Black Belt Champions of Bayport with me in our iLoveKickboxing.com classes and make good healthy food choices you will start to feel and look better...that's a fact!

See you in class!

~Kim

Up next...some more healthy recipes.