5 Nutrition Tips for Fat Loss - Craig Ballantyne

5 Nutrition Tips for Fat Loss
By Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training

This is always tough to admit, but nutrition is more important than your workouts when it comes to fat loss.

And since diet is more important than exercise, I've decided to spend a lot time sharing nutrition tips this week, starting with these 5 diet secrets:

1) Your nutrition program doesn't have to be extreme.

Hold up on making any extreme diet changes. Make sure the nutrition plan you've chosen is sustainable. Simple diet changes go a lot farther than you might think.

Why not just eat more whole, natural foods rather than trying to go on an impossible-to-stick-to ultra-low carb extreme plan?

2) Get the junk out of the house.

If it's in your house, you'll eat it...and trust me, this goes for me too. When I visit a relative's house for holiday, I always eat the treats they have sitting around. That's why I keep the junk out of my house.

So whatever your weakness is, keep it out of your home.

Success is that simple.

3) Fill in the "diet-killing" gap.

For some folks, the diet-killing gap is between work and dinner. For others, it's between dinner and bedtime, but for almost everyone, there is a point in the day when we suffer from mindless eating.

So make sure you have alternatives...as soon as you come home from work, cut up vegetables and dip them into hummus. That will keep you full on a small amount of calories.

After dinner, if you need something sweet, stir up chocolate protein powder into a small bit of plain yogurt. That will satisfy you.

(Mickey's note: If you want a protein that actually contains what the label says and doesn't taste like chalk, check out Prograde Nutrition at www.GetPrograde.com. They sell a high quality and very tasty protein powder.)

4) Chew your food 5-10 times before swallowing.

Most people eat so fast they only about 1-2 times. You'll really notice a difference and you'll slow your eating so you feel full.

5) Have a bowl of broth-based vegetable soup before a meal.

American researcher Barbara Roll has published a lot of studies showing that this will help you reduce the food you eat. Surprisingly, consuming just water doesn't seem to do the same trick.

So those are just 5 of the diet secrets we have for you this year.

(Mickey's note: I know Craig didn't mean this to be an all encompassing nutrition article but I feel the need to add a very simple but important tip...

* Ditch the liquid calories. Soda, ice tea, lattes, "energy" drinks, etc. are just full of nutritionless, empty calories.)

Stay tuned for proven secrets to help you lose fat in 2010.

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS

About the Author

Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit www.TurbulenceTraining.com