• those that believe humans must exclusively eat plain meat and raw vegetables
• those who believe that 100 calorie Snacks and Splenda/Stevia are diet staples

Needless to say, I think we can all agree that any diet coach falling into the latter category (i.e. one who doesn’t understand “nutrient quality”) is someone lacking any true nutrition understanding and someone whose programming will always fail in the long run. Unfortunately, coaches whose nutrition advice consists primarily of the former also are missing the boat.

While I won’t dispute that there’s a strong physiological argument in favour of getting humans to center their culinary habits around a higher protein and vegetable diet, the reality is that most people aren’t ready to take that kind of drastic action with their diet.

Not now, not ever.

So continuing to preach to (or berate) people into believing that good health requires strict avoidance of any food a typical North American might deem “enjoyable” is largely an exercise in time wasting. Since my livelihood not only depends on helping people look amazing, but also helping them lead healthier lives, I’ve adopted the following philosophy for diet creation: make healthy food taste good.

Frankly, unless I (or any diet coach) can give clients options for meals that  taste as good as (or better) than the typical junky North American alternatives, there’s little hope the client will stick with healthy eating for the long haul.

You’d think this would be an obvious strategy for anyone who works in nutrition… but I seem to be among the minority with this approach.

So on that note, I must relay one of my latest “amazing recipe” finds (in full disclosure, my business partner Dylan Olver sent this to me… who got it from his girlfriend Jessica Mackle… who got it from her mother… who got it from an Atkins diet book…). But let’s not worry too much about where this recipe originally came from, the important thing is this recipe should become a staple for all of you.

As an added bonus, the meal prep and cooking times are ridiculously quick, making it one on the healthiest pieces of “fast food” you’ll ever come across.

60 Second Flax Muffins

• 1/4 cup ground flax seed
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp splenda/stevia
• 1 egg (beaten)
• 1 tsp butter or coconut oil

Directions

1. Mix together all the dry ingredients.
2. Add butter and egg, continue mixing until batter is moist.
3. Put batter in a good-sized mug, microwave on high for 60 seconds.
4. Remove, allow to cool and enjoy.

Nutrition facts: 290 kcal,  22 g fat (almost 4.5 g Omega 3!), 15 g carbohydrate (11 g fibre!), 12 g protein

With an impressive blend of omega 3 fats, fibre and protein – these muffins pack some serious physique transforming power. But not only are these muffins exceptionally healthy, they taste great and best of all can be whipped up at the drop of a hat.

Imagine that, a muffin you can enjoy totally guilt-free!

Obviously, this is just a base recipe and you could easily add some other ingredients to switch up the flavour/nutrient content. Unsweetened applesauce, mashed banana or canned pumpkin would make these uber moist, whereas raisins, blueberries or chopped nuts would make great additions.

You are really only limited by your imagination. But once you get creative with your meal planning, it’s amazing how easy “healthy eating” becomes to make part of your daily routine.

Till next time, train hard and eat clean!

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Everyone loves sandwiches. They are convenient, portable and can pretty much be customized with any mix of ingredients that suits your fancy. However, over the past few years breads have gotten a pretty nasty reputation as a physique wrecker and deservedly so. Whether the drawbacks are because of gluten intolerance or just simple over-consumption, eliminating bread goes a long way towards helping people manage their weight.

Of course, removing bread means you’ve eliminated 90% of people’s lunch options. So in an effort to help us, food manufacturers have popularized the wrap. Ahh… the wrap, the supposedly healthier alternative to the sandwich. In fact, I can’t count the number of times I’ve had someone tell me they made the switch from bread to wraps in the effort to clean up their diet. Small problem though… if you look at the nutritional content for most wraps, you’ll find they often contain more calories than would get in 2 slices of bread!

A healthier option? Not really.

Sadly, it doesn’t seem to matter whether your grains come from bread, a wrap, a bowl of cereal or noodles; refined grains pack a significant calorie punch with a low nutritive value. It’s no coincidence that most people get a lot leaner and healthier when they reduce their grain consumption, or at least limit it to specific times of the day. But having grain reduction as a goal and actually accomplishing it are two very different animals.

The allure of grains stems from the fact they are so easy to prepare and store. In fact, it was the increased popularization of cereal grain consumption that allowed civilization to flourish. But in one of those cruelly ironic twists, it seems that a large intake of cereal grains are one of the leading causes of many diseases of civilization. Irony certainly is a bitter pill to swallow.

So what’s a bread lover to do? Unlike a lot of experts who suggest untenable meal plans, I prefer to actually come up with solutions that work in the real world. In fact, I pride myself on figuring out ways to make healthy food both convenient and tasty. And although my attempts at creating a physique friendly bread have universally been met with failure, I have recently created a low-carb wrap that is pretty damn fantastic if I do say so myself. The beauty of this recipe is that it takes only 3 ingredients and any unused wraps can be stored in the fridge for several days.

GT’s low-carb wraps (printer friendly Low carb wraps)

• 1 cup egg white
• 1 1/2 TBSP ground flax seed
• 1 level TBSP coconut flour

*You’ll need a crepe pan for this recipe.

Heat the pan on low-medium and add a dab of coconut oil or cooking spray. Combine all the ingredients in a mixing cup, making sure to stir well as the coconut flour takes a while to dissolve. Once the mixture has been adequately mixed, pour a thin layer into the pan. Tilt the pan so that the mixture covers the entire surface and cook until the edges start to curl. Flip and continue cooking for another 20-30 seconds.

Remove from heat and let cool 2 minutes before eating. Nothing more complicated than that and you’ve got yourself one heck of a sandwich vehicle.

I took the liberty to do a quick comparison with a popular brand of wraps so you can see the difference. My homemade wraps have less than half the calories, a similar amount of fibre and twice the protein.

As an added bonus for you ovo-lacto vegetarians, having two of these wraps stuffed with avocado, lettuce, tomatoes and mushrooms is a “vegetarian-friendly” meal that also provides 20 grams of high quality protein. The real beauty of these wraps is that they can be used at any meal, not just post-workout. How’s that for a real world solution… a guilt-free sandwich that also helps your physique transformation efforts!

Of course, feel free to stuff your own wrap any which way you like. In fact, I’d love to hear about some of the more imaginative sandwich combinations you come up with!

Till next time, train hard and eat healthy.

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