Eat, Drink & Be Lean

Written by E.J. Reeves

Everyone knows you cannot eat like a pig and be lean as a greyhound. It therefore makes sense that dieting habits will determine whether we appear soft and smooth or hard and ripped. Now before you say that you cannot handle yet another new diet, let me explain what I am proposing. Eat, drink and be lean is based on adding foods to your diet, not subtracting foods. These foods are healthy and will aid in fat burning, energy management, cholesterol reduction and protection against cancer.

Your success in this diet change will depend on your ability to add these foods. Once you have made these foods a habit, they will begin to displace other foods in your diet. Let me give you a parallel on this displacement process. If it is dark outside or in a room and you turn on a light, that light displaces the darkness. You do not focus your efforts on removing the darkness but rather on adding light.

Ok, enough with the philosophy, let's talk eating and drinking.

#1 Water - 2 bottles with a squirt of lime juice. To be prepared first thing in the morning. This is an absolute must for a lean muscular physique. You can take the water with you anywhere and you know that you have consumed at least this amount of water daily.

#2 Oatmeal - Again this is another first in the day. A hot bowl of instant or cooked oatmeal will only take 5 minutes cooking time and another 2 minutes for preparation.

#3 Apples - A great mid morning snack. An apple a day will keep the doctor away as well as promote a lean body.

#4 Broccoli - Raw or Cooked, my preference is raw with a touch of Ranch dressing. Another favorite of mine is to add broccoli crowns into a salad.

#5 Raw berries - A bowl of fresh berries with no toppings. Try blue berries , raspberries or strawberries. This is a sweet and healthy dessert anytime of the day.

#6 Green Tea - An excellent hot drink if you do not have problems with the caffeine in tea. My daily quota is about 6 cups or one pot.

#7 Spinach - Use it in a salad instead of lettuce. Buy this fresh and use the same day if possible.

#8 Chicken Breast - I like to prepare these myself with a bit of seasoned pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. Bake or fry until light brown on the outside and the center is completely white. Do not overcook this one or it will taste like sawdust.

#9 Salmon or Trout - Same as the skinless chicken breasts

#10 Wild Brown Rice - There are some fine products that include seasoning for their wild rice. These are good but I find the amount of seasoning is too much so I use only about half the amount provided.

Bonus Veggies - These include green and yellow beans, brussel sprouts, asparagus spears, cauliflower and carrots.

Bonus Fruit - They are grapefruit, stewed tomatoes, pineapple, oranges or cherries.

Try to include as many of the top ten food and drink items every day. Strive for a score of ten every day.

You have 2 bonus groups that should help you to achieve a 10 per day. Here is my weekly check list on my fridge.

It may take a while to be able to add this list of food and drink into your daily diet. The check list will help. Be patient and keep adding. You will notice over time your appetite will change in favor of wholesome food. Your energy level will increase making cravings virtually disappear.

This check list will begin to displace the following foods and drinks.

1 - High calories and potentially dehydrating pop, wine, beer and coffee (except for workouts)

2 - Quick energy foods full of sugar like many breakfast cereals, donuts, cookies and other sweets.

3 - High fat meats

4 - Excessive starch. Many people eat breads, pasta and potatoes like they are training for a marathon and wonder why they are getting fat. Portion control as well as limiting weekly frequency of starchy carbs in favor of fibrous carbs found in vegetables makes more sense for most of us.

Use the chart to check that your daily score is 10 or better. Also make sure you check your weekly score to see if one or more items are consistently low every week. This will help you focus your effort on a lean, nutrient packed diet.

Eat, drink and be healthy! This will be your foundation for a lean body.

Feedback

Hi E.J.,

I love the product. The compound exercise movements offer a really intense workout in a short period of time.

On your website, you mention several different workout routines including those for size & strength (which incorporate dumbbell exercise movements), chin=ups for arms, and beginner & intermediate routines (for isolated muscle groups on certain days of the week), to name a few.

What do you suggest as the best starting place for me?

I have recently been using dumbbells and a Flat/Incline/Decline bench (along with an Olympic sized bar and Olympic weights) to work out major muscle groups. Should I still incorporate some dumbbell exercises in my initial routine? Should I work out isolated major muscle groups on specific days (chest, back, arms, etc.), or combine them? Also, should I perform the 100 dips&chin=ups "fitness test" initially, or wait until I've gotten stronger?

Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm interested in a good starting point (at least for the first 3 weeks or so) that will build a solid foundation for future gains.

Thanks a lot.

-Lee

Hi Lee,

Glad you like the product and that you are reading my articles. Fitness test which is 100 dips and 30 wide chin-ups, 40 medium grip chin-ups and 40 narrow grip chin-ups is a fitness test for the advanced. It is also a good once a week upper body workout. And intermediate test would be 50 medium grip, 50 narrow grip chin-ups with 100 dips. A beginner test would be 50 narrow grip chin-ups, 50 partial (top half of motion) chin-ups and 100 pushups.

The test would be timed for 30 minutes and you should be able to do six or seven reps of each every two minutes. Take the test and mark down your results and the date eg. March 1, 2005 40 narrow chin-ups plus 35 half chin-ups plus 90 pushups. This will give you a bench mark and every six or eight weeks you could retest yourself to see how you are progressing. Of course the test is a great workout for a week or five days before resuming any major pushing or pulling workouts.

You have to determine how many days a week you can invest consistently to training. The minimum would be one major thirty to forty minute workout and one minor fifteen to twenty minute workout a week. The next level would be two major workouts and two minor workouts per week. The major and the minor workouts are the same exercises and muscle groups with the difference in the minor workout being less sets and less reps. The purpose of the minor workouts is to both stimulate and help recuperate your muscles from the major workout. Do not overdo the minor workout, it must be easy.

The two day a week program you would do pulling and pushing movements in the same workout. The four day a week program you would divide the exercises to pushing for two days and pulling for two days. Each would have a hard and easy workout per week.

Next you have to determine how much time and energy you can devote to each workout. Begin each workout with major compound body movements like chin, dips and pushups. Once you are thoroughly fatigued from those you can add dumbbell, barbell, bench movements to finish off the pulling or pushing muscles whichever you are doing that day.

My best advise for the first three weeks is to do the two day a week program with some light isolation exercises as you feel like it during the week. It takes about three weeks to determine your true level, so do not progress rapidly. Adding another day or adding exercise is always easy to do and rewarding if you have a solid base. Do not over tax yourself during the first three weeks.

Progress slowly and keep track of your test results every one to two months. The test results will determine if you are progressing too fast or have too many exercises in your workouts. If your test results show consistent improvement you are doing something right. On the other hand if you have hit a wall or if you go backwards you need to scale back. Hope this helps, let me know how you progress.

-E.J.

You can e-mail E.J. your questions or comments at info@easyeffort.com

Copyright © 2002 by E.J. Reeves All rights reserved.

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We believe our products and service are unmatched by anyone you may find in the marketplace.  Our goal is greater than product and service.  Our goal is to help you achieve your fitness goals.  That is why EasyEffort's president E.J. Reeves works out hours each week perfecting chin up and dip routines you can do at home.  

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