How to Build Healthy Meals for Longevity and Performance Ep 111

Coach Chris Newport shares a simple six-step process for creating healthy, high-performing meals and snacks. She emphasizes the importance of selecting powerful proteins, incorporating colorful fruits and vegetables, focusing on healthy fats, adding extra fuel when needed, boosting meals with herbs and spices, and ensuring proper hydration. 

Takeaways:
Pick powerful proteins to maintain lean muscle mass.
Aim for at least five servings of fruits and vegetables daily.
Healthy fats are essential for mental focus and recovery.
Add extra carbohydrates if you're active.
Use herbs and spices to enhance flavor and health benefits.
Hydration is crucial for overall health and function.
Protein needs increase with age and activity level.
Eating a variety of colors in your diet is beneficial.
Simple meals can be just as effective as complex ones.
Monitor hydration through urine color.

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Chapters

• 1:57 Welcome & Method Overview
• 2:40 Step 1: Powerful Proteins
• 5:13 Protein Targets & Tools
• 7:41 Step 2: Choose Your Color
• 11:53 Step 3: Focus on Healthy Fats
• 16:01 Step 4: Add Extra Fuel

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 1:00

Hey y'all, and welcome back to the Find Your Edge podcast. I am your host, Coach Chris Newport, and today's a shorty but a goody, all about our nutrition edge meal creation method. That is a very simple six-step process that you can use, whether you're cooking for yourself at home, whether you're putting a meal together at a buffet line, whether you're eating out at a restaurant, whether you're traveling, no matter what it is. These are the six steps that we teach our clients to use so that they can eat as healthfully as possible based on what we know about nutrition right now as it relates to things like longevity, health, and more. All right, so buckle up, let's jump right in. Step one is what we like to say pick powerful proteins. So, what do I mean by that? High quality lean protein is absolutely essential to being able to maintain lean muscle mass, if not gain lean muscle mass, and this is key to longevity, y'all. If you are someone who is over 40, you definitely need to be thinking about this. If you are a female and you are over 50, absolutely need to be thinking about this. And anyone who's 60 plus, you have to be prioritizing your protein. The other cool part about protein, and we talked about this last week, is it supports immunity, helps create those wonderful antibodies, and it also helps with appropriate focus. So anytime you are training for a sport, your protein needs go up a bit, but it also depends on your goal. So there's a wide range. The US government likes for you to get at least 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, but we like to see somewhere a little bit more like 1.2, maybe 1.5, even up to two, sometimes maybe even two and a half grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. Remember, there are 2.2 pounds in one kilogram. So you can kind of do the math. We've got a whole process in our longevity nutrition coaching program. Uh, in fact, we have an app for that, y'all. We type in what your goal is and your weight and your height and your age and gender and all that good kind of stuff, and then we create a whole meal builder based off of that. But even if you don't get that, these are important things to know. All right, so what of those proteins are we looking for? So it could be any type of seafood, in particular things like salmon, oysters, shrimp, it could be poultry like chicken and turkey, it could be more vegan or vegetarian items like adamame or tempeh or tofu, it could be eggs or egg whites, it could be a protein powder if you'd like, something like a whey protein powder, egg white, or a mixed vegan protein powder. And the reason why I say mixed is because with vegan protein sources, unless it's soy, you need at least two different types of proteins in order to create all essential amino acids. So not just, let's say, pea protein or not just rice protein, but we want ideally some sort of a combination. So, like pea and rice, for example. And then things like Greek yogurt or skir or kefir. So that was step one, pick your powerful protein. So that should be the first thing that's coming to mind anytime you're creating a meal or snack. Always keep that in mind. All right, next up, choose what I like to say your color or your color fuel. So fruits and vegetables, and of course, these are good sources of things like fiber, are honestly nature's most potent multivitamin containing amazing amounts of polyphenols and compounds that are being isolated specifically for their power, and you can get them all just by eating your fruits and vegetables. So they are so crucial to preventing things like cancer and heart disease. So the goal is to try to get at least five servings from this category. And I mean fruits and vegetables kind of combined, but can you get at least four to five plants just in general? It doesn't have to be isolated just from fruits and vegetables, but darn it, wouldn't it be lovely? And there's so much research that points to the higher the consumption of fruits and vegetables, the lower your risk of certain cancers and improved longevity. So I like to divide these into three different categories. So can you get one of these from each of these different categories on a daily basis? Leafy greens like spinach, spring mix, arugula, collards, kale, and bokchoy. The other category, and here's where you can knock out two birds with one stone, are your crucifers, things like broccoli, cauliflower, brossel sprouts, but then you also have some leafy greens in this category like collards, kale, and bok choy that I already mentioned. So kind of like getting kind of a double whammy. Crucifers are so powerful for their sulfurifane compound that helps us in the detoxification process and more. And the other category I like for people to shoot to get at least one from this category on a daily basis is something from your red and orange fruits or vegetables. We see with increased consumption of those colors, we see decreased risks of certain diseases. So think red, yellow, orange peppers, think of orange carrots, think of red tomatoes, and more. All right, so that's step two is making sure that you're choosing your color. All right, so step three is what we like to say is focus on healthy fats. And the reason why we say focus is because fat is necessary to maintain mental focus throughout the day. It aids in recovery on a cellular level, helps better absorb certain vitamins, and helps regulate your blood sugar. So, typical amount of total caloric intake from fat usually is somewhere between 20 and 35 percent, might be even a little bit more than that. Something we may need to be a little bit more conscientious of. And I had mentioned this before with anybody who has the APOE4 genetic SNP, may need to be a little bit more conscientious of their saturated fat intake. And we've got a whole category of cholesterol-related genes that we look at in our genetic testing and our longevity coaching program. Those are the things that we may need to eat a little bit less of, ideally, and focus more on things like plant-based fats, like avocados, guacamole. If you use oils and things, you can try avocado oil, dark chocolate, one of my favorites, olives, olive oil, nuts and nut butters like almonds and cashews and walnuts and seeds like pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, and sunflower seeds. So that is focus on healthy fats. So as you're building your meal and snack, let's recap one more time because these are really important. So pick your powerful protein, choose your color, and then focus on healthy fats. All right, so step four is what I like to call add extra fuel. So oftentimes, if you are an athlete, which many of you are, you may need extra energy. So I say add extra fuel when you need additional carbohydrates from things like grains and starches. This is also a wonderful way for you to increase your fiber intake. So things like sweet potatoes, quinoa, buckwheat, brown or wild rice, oat bran, oat meal, those types of things that are additional carbohydrates when you're doing additional exercise from high-intensity interval training, from running, from cycling, trathon, whatever it is. So that's the fourth step in the meal building process. All right, so now let's jump into the fifth step. This is a fun one. What I like to call boost your fuel. So here is where herbs and spices and being playful and having some fun with your food comes in. So giving not only your food a flavor boost, but also spicing it up with especially things that have been well researched. For example, here's your wonderful list: turmeric. You may see this on a label as curcumin. So that's the active ingredient in the spice turn, that wonderful orange spice that turns everything orange. It has that powerful compound called curcumin in it, which is a powerful anti-inflammatory, especially when it's combined with black pepper, with its powerful compound called bioprene. Then, of course, we have other things like garlic, which of course is a wonderful prebiotic in addition to having other health supportive benefits. Spices like oregano and basil have well-researched benefits in addition to things like cayenne pepper, and again, one of my favorites, cocoa. All right, so number six, last but not least, on the list of building out your meal or snack. Where is your hydration going to come from? So, oh my goodness, how many times have I talked about this? And how many more times will I talk about this? A lot. This is one of the things that it's not like you can just set it and forget it. It is one of those things that you have to do every single day to survive is hydrate. Water performs so many amazing functions in the body, including delivering oxygen, cooling through sweating, lubricating your joints, and it's well over half of the human body. So, yes, hydration is based largely off of your activity level, your stage of life, what environment, but most men need about three liters, which is roughly about 100 ounces per day, and most women need about two liters, which is about 64 ounces a day. Of course, that is highly variable. Things that you can get for your hydration are things like good quality filtered water, maybe some seltzer, perhaps some herbal teas. Those are all good sources for being hydrated. And of course, you're gonna get some from your fruits and vegetables as well. Urine color is one of your best ways to monitor hydration status, and we like to use our little color chart on our hydration guide so that you have an actual picture of what your urine should look like, and it should be nice and light, light color yellow. Alright, so let's go through these steps one more time just to put it all together. So, just as a reminder, anytime that you are creating yourself a meal or a snack, these are the things that you should be going through. This is the mental checklist you want to go over. In fact, we have one of our folks in our longevity nutrition group who has taken this and he's put it into Excel spreadsheet, and he has put all the foods that he likes from each of these categories, and then he filters it out. He goes super full-on scientific. I love it. That may not work for you, and that's totally fine. But that's a great way for him to say, okay, how can I make sure that I get all of these pieces satisfied so that I can create the best meal for my goals? All right, so step number one, just as a recap, pick your powerful protein. We need that good quality protein at every single meal and snack to get those essential amino acids to maintain or even gain our lean muscle mass, support your immunity, and sustain your focus. So prioritize that no matter what. Number two, get your color. So choose your color or your color fuel, nature's most potent and amazing multivitamin. Try to get at least five servings per day if you can. But if you can't quite get there, try to get at least one from each of those categories of leafy greens, crucifers, and red and orange colored vegetables. Number three, do you have some healthy fats in this meal or snack? So you may already get some from your protein source. Let's say you're doing some nuts and seeds and an apple. You may already have those fats incorporated in there, but you may not. So let's make sure we've got some good quality, maybe avocado or olives, olive oil, nuts, and seeds, so that we've got that good quality, healthy fat incorporated for mental focus, for aiding in recovery, and for better absorption of certain vitamins and regulating that blood sugar. Number four, add the extra fuel if you need it. If you are doing plenty of exercise, then yes, you're gonna need your carbs. So can you get them from whole food sources, things like sweet potatoes, quinoa, brown rice, or oats. Number five, play with your food, have some fun, give it some boosts, give it a flavor boost, especially aiming for things like basil, turmeric, cocoa, garlic, etc. And last but not least, you gotta focus on your hydration. So another thing I really like to do for meal and snack creation is just to encourage people to try to get at least two foods for a snack and three for a meal. All right, so hopefully that was a nice, quick, and easy six steps to help you create your next meal or snack. And remember, sometimes simple is better. So I hope you will enjoyed it, and I will catch you next time on the Find Your Edge podcast.