You’re busy. With work or school, family, and a life outside the gym, you just don’t have much time to spend in the kitchen preparing clean meals that will get you shredded. It’s funny, then, that nearly every diet plan you read calls for five or more perfectly balanced gourmet meals. While it would be great to eat an omelette for breakfast, broiled salmon with asparagus and brown rice at lunch, and chicken breasts with broccoli and mango chutney at dinner…come on! You don’t have time to cook all that—during the day or in advance—and you don’t have the plastic containers to carry it all or the fridge to store it in.
Honestly, eating clean to get ripped doesn’t require organizing your whole life around meal times. No matter how busy you are, we’ve got a fat-loss diet that even the president could follow, put together by Mike Roussell, Ph.D., a nutritional consultant living in State College, PA, who runs the Web site Nakednutritioninsider.com. It’s packed with convenient healthy recipes that require minimal cooking time. You can maintain your busy lifestyle and eat healthy on the go without your physique paying the price
YOU CAN DO THIS
Roussell’s meal plans—one is for days you lift and the other is for off days—are about as easy as eating clean can be without relying too heavily on prepackaged, processed foods. The cooking required is simple enough for even the most culinarily challenged guy to pull off, and during the day (when you’re probably either at work or school), there’s no cooking to do whatsoever. If you don’t have time to put some of the meals together in advance, you can throw them in a bag and assemble them lickety-split in any kitchen or cafeteria. Another option would be to pick up the ingredients at a store or deli en route, or better, have someone who can prepare the meals for you.
Not surprisingly, meal-replacement shakes play a major role in the Real-World Diet. You’ll be drinking them twice a day, including during your workout on training days (along with a sports drink) to deliver protein to your muscles immediately and keep you in an anabolic state. So you don’t get bored, Roussell concocted a shake matrix so you can get all kinds of tasty blends with just a few general ingredients.
The major components of any good diet are covered here: (1) Getting adequate protein to at least maintain muscle mass, which will help keep your metabolism high; (2) Limiting carbohydrate intake to only high-quality sources to eliminate the possibility of empty carbs being stored as fat in the body; (3) Loading up with sufficient fiber throughout the day to increase satiety and fat burning; (4) Including an adequate level of healthy fats through oils, nuts, and lean meats to further enhance satiety and deliver other healthy nutrients; and (5) Introducing a variety of vegetables to provide not only additional fiber but crucial vitamins and minerals, as well.
TRAINING DAY DIET
Meal 1 – Spinach and Sausage Scramble With Oatmeal
2 whole eggs
2 Al Fresco breakfast chicken sausages
1 cup baby spinach
¼ cup reduced-fat shredded cheddar cheese
½ cup rolled oats
1 cup water
Scramble the eggs, sausages, and spinach in a nonstick pan until the spinach is wilted and the eggs are cooked through. Top with the cheese. While the eggs are cooking, combine the oats and water in a bowl, cover, and microwave 90 seconds.
Mix all ingredients together and sip during your workout.
Meal 5 – Quinoa and Chicken Bowl
1 cup cooked quinoa
½ cup cherry tomatoes
1 cup canned black beans, rinsed
5 oz boneless, skinless chicken breast, grilled and cubed
2–3 tsp chili powder
1 pinch of salt and pepper
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.
Meal 6 – Chocolate and Peanut Butter Snack
2/3 cup low-fat cottage cheese
1 scoop chocolate protein powder
1 tbsp natural peanut butter
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.
APPROX. DAILY NUTRIENT TOTALS:
2,500 calories 228g protein 218g carbs 88g fat 32g fiber
NON-TRAINING DAY DIET
Meal 1 – Greek Yogurt Parfait
1 cup fat-free Greek yogurt
1 cup blueberries
2 tbsp flaxseed meal
1 oz cashews
¼ cup low-fat granola
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.
Meal 2 – Shake
(Choose one from the “”)
Meal 3 – Easy Salmon Salad
6-oz pouch salmon
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1 cucumber, chopped
1 cup canned chickpeas, rinsed
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.
Meal 4 – Shake
(Choose one from the “”)
Meal 5 – Dr. Mike’s Texas Chilli
Roussell’s delicious, extra lean chili recipe requires some cooking, but because you’ll be making a lot of it, it will last you all week once prepared. Using the amounts below, this pot of chili makes six 500-calorie servings.
1 tbsp canola oil
3 1⁄2 lbs 95% lean ground beef
2 cloves garlic
1 onion, diced
1⁄4 cup chili powder
1 tsp black pepper
1⁄2 tsp crushed red pepper
2 4.5-oz cans diced green chiles
2 6-oz cans tomato paste
32 oz low-sodium beef broth or stock
1 cup water
Add canola oil and beef to a medium to large saucepan and cook over medium heat until beef is browned. Remove from pan and place in a bowl on the side. Add garlic and onion to pan and cook until onion softens. Next, add beef back to pan and season with spices. Add chiles and tomato paste, and stir until all the ingredients are thoroughly combined and coating the beef. Add beef broth and water to pot; cover and simmer for 45 minutes. Stir and simmer uncovered for another 45 minutes.
APPROX. DAILY NUTRIENT TOTALS:
2,200 calories 193g protein 178g carbs 31g fat 41g fiber
SHAKE MATRIX
You can make a variety of tasty shakes with a scant few ingredients. Select one food from each column and put in a blender with three to four ice cubes and two to three cups water. Blend until smooth.
