Brian (1s):
Hello and welcome to the Get Lean and Eat Clean podcast. My name is Brian Grn. I'm a certified health coach, trainer and author, and this podcast is for middle-aged men and women looking to optimize their health and get their bodies back to what it once was 10 to 15 years ago. I will give you simple, actionable items to get long-term sustainable results. Thanks for listening and enjoy the show. All right, welcome to the Get Lean e Klean podcast. My name is Brian Grn. I hope you had a great weekend enjoying maybe some warmer weather. It's been unseasonably warm here in Chicago.
Brian (42s):
I know some people that actually played golf this weekend. It's like fifties, but anyways, hopefully a watch, maybe the Super Bowl enjoyed that. Really enjoyed actually the national anthem. I thought that was the best national anthem I've ever heard by Chris Stapleton. But anyways, the game itself turned out to be a good game. Pretty close and Kansas City turned out as the winner. So hopefully enjoyed a nice Super Bowl with family and friends. And also hopefully you listen to my interview with Chris and Eric Martinez with the Dynamic Fit Pros. They are just doing a lot of, lot of great work and they work with coaches. They used to coach clients in health. Now they're helping, helping coaches, you know, scale their businesses online.
Brian (1m 26s):
So, but we touched on, you know, flexible dieting, the importance of morning routines, how to perform effective cardio, and they had a ton of great tips. So definitely listened to Eric and Chris episode 2 26, if you haven't already. They've been in the fitness industry for a long time and really enjoyed meeting them. I'm actually gonna be on their podcast coming up soon, so look out for that. And so with that being said, today's micro podcast is going to be on what I eat during a d during the day. I was inspired by my good friend, my good friend Brad Kearns with the B Rad podcast. And he recently did a, what he likes to call a breather episode on, you know, what he eats.
Brian (2m 13s):
And what I'll say with this is it's never static for me, but I do go through phases and I like to self experiment and see what works best, how I perform best, you know, how's my energy. And I'm on a recent kick and this is mainly from my interviews with Jay Feldman with Energy B Balance podcasts, along with just talking with Brad. We've done duo podcasts together about sort of how to optimize what we're eating based on performance and recovery, you know, as opposed to just like trying to perhaps even like lean out and have the best looking six pack you can have, which is not in my terms optimal health.
Brian (3m 0s):
And so I've been implementing more calories, more whole food carbs, mainly in the forms of some starches, but mainly fruit. And just seeing how, you know, just seeing how I perform and how I recover. You know, for a long time I was fairly low carb and doing a, a lot, a quite a bit of fasting and it, it was a great run and I enjoyed it. And I think everyone, if they haven't done it, I mean I work with my clients in getting them into doing some type of fasting because I think it's important for one, it puts boundaries on your day and it gives you sort of structure.
Brian (3m 41s):
It also can help with gut health and other, other, other issues, inflammatory issues that could come along with just eating a standard American diet. So they all play a role, if you wanna call 'em concepts, whether it's carnivore, whether it's fasting, whether it's low carb, and again, it, it's about finding out what your goals are and then also what have you done in the past and you know, sort of what can you tolerate. And when I say tolerate, you know, some people can tolerate certain vegetables, some people can't, some people can tolerate certain fruits, some people can't. So it is sort of a, you know, a one off depending on the individual.
Brian (4m 23s):
But for myself, I'm gonna sort of walk you through, you know, my day now as a, as a, as a how I eat. Not every single thing I do in the day, that'll be a long podcast, but just what I eat in the day. Just to give you an idea, like I said, my calorie count has gone up. I know calories aren't everything. I can tell you that, but they do play a role. But I've been adding in just whole fruits, mainly some starches. And, and I, I, I've enjoyed it so far. I've enjoyed it. There definitely was an adjustment period cuz I was used to fasting quite into the day. And I've opened up my fasting window, gosh, it depends on the day, but around 9 30, 10 o'clock is, is typically when I open up my eating window.
Brian (5m 14s):
So let's go through that right now, huh? This is exciting, isn't it? So typically get through my morning routine, which is taking the dogs for a walk, doing some movement or writing in my journal. And once I get past that, then I typically ha just have some tea in the morning. Surprisingly enough, I got into tea, I had covid, I don't know, it was probably six months ago, give or take, and just had, the only thing I had from Covid was a sore throat and I was like, okay, I need some tea. So that like got me into tea, which was good. I mean I would have tea from time to time. B back in the day, like green tea a lot.
Brian (5m 56s):
But now like that got me back into it. So I have tea in the morning and after I have tea in the morning I usually do. So a little bit of work and then I break my fast. And this has been the biggest change for me is adding in this first meal a little bit earlier. So now I typically have three meals a day and for one, it's easier for me to get enough food in the day when I do that. You know, I was going at two meals a day for a long time, occasionally even one meal a day on some days. But getting enough calories and getting enough protein was the big issue, you know, I still like to work out a lot and stay active, so I just need to make sure that I'm getting enough or I've always had an issue where I don't wanna get too lean.
Brian (6m 46s):
I've, I, I look back at some pictures and videos that I've done a year ago and I'm like, God, I was pretty lean back there. I was probably around one 70 now I'm, you know, I was 1 70, 1 72. Now I'm probably about 1 78 to 180. And I just think it's a better weight for me. So either way, I've been doing, adding in this third meal, it's been probably, now I have to look back. I, I have done some dexo scans. I'm gonna do another one coming up here. And it's probably been like six months of adding this in, give or take, four to six months I'd say. So how I break my fast blueberries, I have a cup of blue couple blueberries, typically blueberries are blackberries.
Brian (7m 32s):
Then usually I have another piece of fruit. Could be an orange, could be a banana. And with with that I, you know, I usually have a cup of Greek yogurt with it. Organic Greek yogurt or some type of, you know, whole milk, organic cottage cheese and you know, something that doesn't have any hormones in it. So definitely going for quality there. None of this low fat skim stuff, you wanna stay away from that. So that's what I'll do is I'll have usually a couple pieces of fruit, maybe a couple blueberries that are orange, some Greek yogurt, and then I'll add in occasionally.
Brian (8m 15s):
Actually I have one right here. If you're watching on YouTube, this no junk protein bar made by Papa Steves. I found these a while back, got away from 'em now and back into 'em. I will say I, I would advocate for Whole Foods as opposed to having maybe like a bar like this is, but if you're gonna have something, I mean this is quality. You can, you, you know, organic grass fed whey protein, it's, this one has peanut butter. I'm not a huge peanut butter person. I mean I love peanut butter, but I don't advocate for eating too much of it. But it does have organic peanut butter, organic dates, organic apples, organic cinnamon, sy excuse me, cinnamon and then a few other organic cocoa powder.
Brian (9m 2s):
And so cocoa butter, I, you know, the macros on this are solid 20 grams of protein. I think sometimes I like to add bars in it just to get the, just to get a little bit more in as far as calories is concerned. And protein, it's just easier. I mean, again, I, a lot of times I do make myself food, but something like this with it where, you know, I, I know the ingredients that are going in it and it doesn't, yeah, doesn't have anything bad in it. So makes it, makes it easier just to start the day. So usually that's what I have the first thing in the morning. There's so much on why I have blueberries, I'm not gonna go into that, but they are so nutrient dense as far as a fruit is concerned.
Brian (9m 49s):
They have a decent amount of fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K mags. They also supply vitamin E and copper. So yeah, if you're looking for a solid fruit, I would definitely advocate for blueberries. And that's typically my first meal. It's probably about five to 700 calories and I've been putting on my, on a chronometer every so often. I don't think you need to track your macros and calories every day, but do it for a week or two just to see where you're at. So I usually have that, let's say 9 30, 10 o'clock and then I wait, do some more work, maybe go for more and one more W with the dogs or walk.
Brian (10m 30s):
I don't like to say it too loud cuz they're around here somewhere and then I work out. So that was another sort of change I used to work out, you know, in a fasted state. Now I've been working out with, you know, a little bit of food in me and it's been fine. I usually wait at least two hours. So I think it's helped my lifts a bit. I can't say there's some like prophetic change, but it, it does, it does make a difference. It can definitely help. And so yeah, trying to put on muscle, right, which is should be the goal for all of us or maintain. Maintain or put on muscle.
Brian (11m 10s):
We don't want to lose muscle and especially when we get 40 plus. So definitely that's something that we, I work on with all my clients. And then after the workout I don't like rush to go eat but I usually have something around, let's just say two to 30 in that range. And usually there'll be eggs, four eggs, maybe some avocado add in if, if I didn't have cottage cheese or something, maybe I'll put some cottage cheese in there or locks some type of protein on top of that even though you're getting the eggs as well. So sometimes I'll have the eggs just you know, over or sometimes I'll scramble 'em.
Brian (11m 55s):
It just depends. So that's usually my next meal. So the middle meal is nothing crazy. And then usually my next meal after that. So let's just say I have a meal around 9 30, 10, next one, let's just say around two. And then my final meal of day is probably around five 30. My wife and I, we, we are early bird eaters and that's probably just come into play because I like to be done eating at least three hours before I go to bed. And if I'm eating at 7 30, 8 o'clock, that's too late. So you know if you could get your meals in earlier when the sun's up.
Brian (12m 36s):
Well now the sun's we're getting longer days, which is nice cuz we're out of the dead of winter here in Chicago. So we usually eat around five 30. Done eating around 6, 6 30 typically six 30 I'd say. And what do we have for dinner? Usually it's some type of fish, some type of meat. My wife does like to cook so I'm very lucky. Sometimes we'll grill either like maybe a ribeye or or a strip steak or filet or we have these blends or these ground meat blends from force of nature and they make some, they have some great products force of nature.
Brian (13m 20s):
So definitely check them out if you're looking for some good ground beef or they, they have ground beef, they have ground alp, bison, gosh, what else? Venison, lamb. So force of nature. Then I get us wellness meats, I get the meat and a lot of times what I'll do is I'll get 'em every month and then just stack this, this, the freezer and then the night before we just decide what we're gonna have and just take it out the night before. So highly recommend that. So you don't have to go shopping every two days for your meat. If you could get it local that would be great. But I get a lot of my meats from some of these great companies online like Forest and nature, US Wellness meats.
Brian (14m 4s):
I had the owner of Zootopia and I still get Zootopia, their seafood, which is actually all their fish are in like a controlled setting. So you know what you're getting as far as what they're eating and you're not, you don't have to worry about microplastics or heavy metals and things like that. So if you haven't heard my interview with the owner of Zootopia, definitely check that out anyways, great company, if you love sushi, check it out. Then maybe some type of shrimp, you know, we sometimes we'll mix it up and have a shrimp dish but my wife does like to make like bolognese or meatballs even sometimes she'll make me liver.
Brian (14m 47s):
I know that's can be liver or heart. I don't, we don't, I don't do that all the time. Maybe once or twice a month. So that's like what the dinner is. It's based around a pro a protein. You wanna prioritize protein with each meal and that's how we do that. So you know, do we have anything with the meats? Yeah, of course sometimes I've addi, we've added in some we'll have make some sweet potato or some type of other vegetable. Maybe carrots or onions. Mushrooms with the meal as well. I do like, I forgot to mention now I'm drawing a blank. Palini, Palini, it's like a, it's, it's looks like pasta but it's not.
Brian (15m 36s):
It's so they make all different types of, lemme just look this palini, we get it so much I gotta mention it. Yeah, so it's like a low carb linguini made from hearts of Palm. That's what it is made from Hearts of Palm. Really enjoy it. So definitely check out Palini again. I have no, I'm getting that I'm not getting paid for any of these companies. I've not taken out any sponsors or affiliates really, mainly with these companies that I've been mentioning. But Palini is a great one. If you want a add into to, you know, maybe we're making some like a meat sauce like a bolognese and then you could put some linguini or you know, any type of doodle that you like.
Brian (16m 17s):
Pretty much. I think they have most, most of the noodles that you can get and it's, it's not, you're not having actual pasta but it does taste very good. I I will say we get, we have it a lot. So, so that's a typical dinner. And then you know, people ask me, well do you splurge? I mean I like the splurge. I mean I used to love like peanut butter and jelly, that was like my thing. But I think now that I've gotten older, I splurge on things but I try to like splurge on 'em in like a healthier way. So like for example, there's a company called Egg Life, egg Life egg white wraps. I recommend this a lot with my clients and it's just like a wrap with like nothing in it.
Brian (16m 57s):
Just like egg whites, a few fillers cuz they obviously have to make it last for a little while, but you keep 'em in the fridge and you can put anything you want on 'em. So typically what I'll do is, since I love peanut butter and jelly back in the day, I don't do a traditional peanut butter and jelly, but I'll put that, I'll put it like a s sprouted almond butter. There's a company called Philosopher Foods that makes a sprouted almond butter and I have, I'll have that maybe cut up a banana and put that in there or have some type of organic jelly and put that depending on how, how I'm feeling. So that's like my splurge after my meal and I don't know, I enjoy it. It's something that, it's not like I'm having a legit, not that you can't have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich every once in a while, but this is my way of justifying having it is, you know, having something like a, an egg white wrap with sprouted almond butter and jelly or butter or I'm sorry or banana.
Brian (17m 57s):
And then sometimes I'll have a little bit of a granola. I love granola, used to make it myself, but it just, I should get back to that. Haven't made it in a while but, and it's not that difficult to make, but there's a company called Lark, Ellen Farm and s Sprouted granola. I'll put, I'll put links in the show notes for some of these products so you can just like quick, quickly check 'em out. Again, I'm not getting paid by any of these companies but I want to give you some suggestions when it comes to this so you're prepared. And I usually have that with some type of like coconut milk or even goat milk from time to time I stay away from almond milk.
Brian (18m 38s):
I don't know, I just, we all know that almonds, too many almonds just like too much spinach has, you know, lectins it can have, you know, these phytonutrients that aren't so good for you. So you, again, you can have almonds from time to time, you just don't wanna overdo it. And I just gotten away from almond milk and I usually have, I usually have like a coconut milk or you know, even goat milk. So best ways to try to get these lectins out of the foods is you sprout 'em.
Brian (19m 20s):
So if you are gonna have like almonds or nuts, if you can get 'em sprouted, that's what I usually typically do is these s sprouted granolas help remove a lot of the antinutrients. So just a quick tip there. So that's, that's what I got for you, that's a day, that's a typical day right there for me. Hopefully this helps and gives you some insight into what I do. Now this could change in the next few months but for right now, this is work for me and again my, my reasoning for adding more calories and adding more, first of all, most people are undereating anyways and they're not eating nutrient dense foods.
Brian (20m 0s):
So that's the goal is you don't really wanna be undereating all the time, especially drastically. And you wanna make sure that you're getting eating nutrient dense foods because that's gonna keep you full and satiated, especially if you prioritize protein. So I'm all about supporting my performance and recovery goals and maximizing what's called cellular energy. And so this has been my goal over the last six months or so and that's why I eat this way. So it all just depends on your goals. So hopefully this helps. If you got any questions email me brian brian grn.com and if you love the podcast, I would love a review and a rate cuz I don't and rate it if that'd be great, a five star would be wonderful.
Brian (20m 42s):
I don't take any sponsors or anything like that. So just wanna give you sponsor free listening at least for now and hope you're enjoying that. So that's what I eat for the day and, and hopefully enjoy it. If you have any questions, again brian@briangr.com and look out for my book coming out soon. I'll definitely give you a heads up on that. Have a great rest of the week and I will talk to you on Friday. Thanks for listening to the Get Lean EAN podcast. I understand there are millions of other podcasts out there and you've chosen to listen to mine and I appreciate that. Check out the show notes@briangrin.com for everything that was mentioned in this episode.
Brian (21m 24s):
Feel free to subscribe to the podcast and share it with a friend or family member that's looking to get their body back to what it once was. Thanks again and have a great day.
