Our Healthy Transformation (Part 2 of a series) - Learning how to eat

In the first post in this series, I introduced our starting point and decision to move to a healthier, stronger life. We discovered High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and, with it, opened a world of athletic science as a fresh alternative to the "diet and exercise" industry. But, nutritionally speaking, we were still in the old camp: moderation in all things, plenty of fiber, lean meats, watch your fats, and, the ever-popular hit "calories in < calories out = weight loss".

I have to take a moment and give my fiancee, Michelle, full props for most of the knowledge we have gained. She is a voracious reader, gifted researcher, critical thinker, and above all else, has an unparalleled ability to separate the useful information from the ubiquitous crap.

About the same time we discovered HIIT, Michelle was also being introduced to strength training through our trainer at Lifetime Fitness, Nick. He showed her a series of routines to rotate through daily to begin some well-rounded strength training. Then, he gave us the advice that launched the second stage of our transformation.

"Make sure you get plenty of protein, at least 100 grams a day. Get lots of vegetables, and then some fruits too." That was it! No calorie counting? No 'get plenty of fiber'? And -something that only became clear later - no "don'ts". It was all focused on what we should eat to feed our bodies to enable the work we were doing. Hmm.

Back to the internet. We started reading forums on T-Nation, Bodybuilding.com, and Anabolic Minds, where we met giants like Tony Gentilcore, Mark Rippetoe, and many more. Again, being results-oriented, we looked to those that built the kinds of physiques that seem to occur only on television. We learned terms like "macro-nutrients" and "clean eating" and learned that processed foods substituted all sorts of interesting things so they could call their product "low fat" or "lite".

It was a little stunning. We were still absorbing the idea that jogging 20-30 minutes 3 times a week, a mantra that had been beaten in over two decades of military service, was not the most effective form of training. Now we were seeing added sugars, refined carbohydrates, and ingredients we couldn't pronounce lurking like villains in a cheap horror movie. And these are supposed to be the "healthy" foods. Honestly, the more we learned, we got a little angry at our ignorance. After all, we are educated, intelligent, relatively well-informed people. Its just that we were getting our information from the wrong place.

We actually made the adjustments to our diet (meaning lifelong nutrition plan, not temporary weight loss schtick) without much fuss. We ditched the pre-packaged foods and focused on meeting the nutrition goals Nick set out for us. Our shopping habits switched to shopping almost exclusively in the "perimeter" of the grocery store - fresh produce, meats, dairy, eggs - the good stuff.

People, I can't say this emphatically enough: learn to cook, really cook.

A funny thing happens when you start eating with purpose. You lose track of all the crap you used to eat. We didn't really have to try to cut (refined) carbs or sugars. There wasn't much room left for them. And, since we knew exactly what was going into the food we cooked fresh at home, we got rid of practically all of the sneaky things, like high fructose corn syrup and glutens, without having to buy specialty products.

The conventional wisdom of the exercise and fitness machine was falling apart like a house of cards. In a matter of weeks, we were applying tried-and-true standard practices from real experts in building strength and training athletes. The pounds came off, the body fat practically melted away, and the lean muscle mass took its place.

And this was just the beginning. In the upcoming posts, I'll cover the importance of strength training, insulin and metabolic syndrome, and how they have led us even further along our healthy transformation.