Sticking to the Core Diet and not losing your mind can be tough!  Here are three things that I find helpful when that doughnut on the table in the office break room starts yelling a bit too loudly.

Motivation

We need to remember why we are eating healthy and sticking to the Core Diet.  Hopefully there are a few reasons.  In my case, these include health, performance, and treat enhancement.  The first one is pretty self-explanatory: a nutrient dense diet that is low in preservatives and additives will reduce health-related issues.  I like this goofy little saying: “If you don’t take care of your body, where will you live?”  (Tim rolls his eyes every time I say it. )

The second reason probably has the most immediate impact and gets my head back in the game the quickest.  I know, through both research and personal experience, that body composition directly affects performance.  That piece of pizza, scoop of ice cream, bag of chips, plate of fries, stack of pancakes, bowl of cocoa puffs, king-size candy bar – you get the picture – will only taste good for as long as it takes me to eat it, but the pride that comes from meeting my potential and pushing my body to the limit will last for as long as I can remember it.  I may be a slow eater, but I certainly have a longer memory.

Treat enhancement – how good does that chocolate ice cream (substitute with your treat of choice) taste when you haven’t had it in a long time?  Does it taste as good when you have it every day?  To me, it does not.  Not that I don’t enjoy eating every day during the off-season, ’cause I do, but the first scoop tastes that much better!

Variety

Keeping things interesting at meal time makes eating healthy much easier.  Grilled chicken and steamed broccoli day in and day out can make some people (me!) hostile.  Finding new recipes and experimenting in the kitchen has helped me keep my sanity while sticking to the Core.  I posted a few recipes the other day, and will post more in the future.  I’d also love for you guys to share any recipes that you have!

Treat Night

I find that having one “cheat” meal a week also helps keep my head in the game.  We tend to make this a carb-heavy dinner on Fridays so that it doubles as a mini carb-load for our long Saturday training sessions.  This is when we have our pizza, ice cream, pasta, etc. that we haven’t had all week.  Without this meal I would most likely snap and gorge myself on any number of things that can be found on ThisIsWhyYoureFat.com.

Thanks for the question, Phoenix!  Hope this helps!