Ninja Nutrition – Fueling the fire!
You know we have discussed many topics here on this Blog, and one item that I get a lot of questions on is on Nutrition. For example “Sensei, what do you eat to stay fit and have the energy level that you do?”, “Airyu, did ninja’s eat snacks, what were they like if they did?”, “Is there an optimal diet for a Ninja?”…etc, etc. So I figured it may be time to start putting out more information on how to improve our nutritional plans to help augment our training and lives.
First Topic the dreaded Weight Loss dilemma!
Did you know that people will eat up to 45% more food when served bigger portions! Holy crap, that can equate to a shit load of extra calories in a single sitting. What does this tell us? Well, if we are used to putting a large portion on our plates we will eat it even if we don’t need to or are getting full, it is what it is and we do it unconsciously many times a day. This extra calorie intake occurs in so many ways it isn’t even easy to keep track, we look at portion size, drinks we consume… those sodas and iced teas, frappachino’s etc. you talk about hidden calories, here is a big opportunity for you to start looking at. What that isn’t enough? How about those bags of chips, crackers, cookies you stick in your lunch, convenient yes they are but why add them to an already packed meal?
Ok, so what is the lesson here? As an adult we all make choices on what we eat and drink, both for necessity and for enjoyment, the caveat here is what you may be doing is sabotaging your training by taking in excess crappy calories that are not fueling the fire but instead just adding pounds to your frame.
So your Ninja Mission for the next week is:
Nutrition Journal – Start a journal that you track everything for at least 7 full days. That is everything, don’t sneak eat or drink and not put it in, don’t change your habits just because you are doing this exercise, as this is the basis for many new things you will be working on in the coming weeks, so be HONEST AND SPECIFIC!
Once you have this done, be ready we are going to start picking it apart and rebuilding your plan to help maximize your caloric intake to your outputs in training!
Bufu Ikkan
Airyu – “Living the Ninja Lifestyle!”