Keep it Simple:

The healthiest veggies are from the cruciferous (iron containing) vegetables of the brassica family.

Fruit is a great source of carb pre/post workout as it contains simple sugars (fructose) to fuel or replenish glycogen stores. Bananas are a staple and berries contain a ton of antioxidants.

When you go grocery shopping, ensure you have a list beforehand. Printing the above graphic is a good idea. Also, make sure you aren’t hungry as this can sabotage good habits. Generally, you’ll notice the healthy stuff is around the perimeter of the store - farther from the interior and end caps. As such, this is how you should shop the majority of time. Simply, go

in a circle at the grocery store rather than the middle where the processed stuff is.

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To keep it super easy all one needs to do is to eat the same meals that one likes for easy caloric tracking. Protein shakes make this even easier and more convenient, which is why a lot of people use them. If you eat 4 meals, protein shakes with a fruit can be 2 of them. A protein shake, some rice milk and a banana could be the 50g protein/50g carb meal one is looking for. You measure and meal prep the others and put them in some pyrex.

Incorporate easy prepped meals like grilled lean proteins, rice/potato, green veggies and shakes for the ultimate ease and meal-prep for autopilot. This means once or twice a week, cook a bunch of meat, rice/potato and greens. Fill up glass Tupperwares with of a cup a rice, 8 oz of chicken, fish or sirloin then add a green like broccoli or spinach. Easy meals for 50g protein, 50g carb, minimal fat.

The key to success is keeping lean protein and carbs high and fat moderate. If you notice, your protein always stays at a gram per pound of bodyweight. The fat always stays at .3 per pound of bodyweight.

The carbohydrate number is what changes depending on if you want to optimize your body to burn fat or build muscle. After some bulk/cut cycles you’ll get where you want to be and can eat maintenance calories year round - experiencing modest gains in muscle and staying lean, even burning some fat.

I hope this helped and I wanted to mention that my favorite way to do meal prep is with a $30 Aroma Rice Cooker,  this $20 Food Scale and this $35 - 5-Pack of Pyrex Meal Prep Containers with 3 compartments.  These are high-quality, thick and seal great.  A 20 pound bag of Jasmine rice is under $20 and will last a month or two easy.  I save a TON of time and money this way.

Lately, I'll do 2 protein shakes with 1.5 scoops of whey and 1.5 cups of milk.  I'll drink this with a banana or apple before and after my workout.  I prefer bananas and blueberries, but lately - I have apples 🍎 - so I eat em up!  The reason I prefer blueberries is that they are much more nutritionally dense, and too much apple makes me poo poo.  This is due to the pectin in apples and they are well known to do this if ya eat too much.

After my workout and post workout shake, I'll have two of these meal prepped containers later in the day for meals.  I mostly like teriyaki chicken and sirloin steak (this is super lean) or 93% lean ground beef.  Fish doesn't reheat that good, it can be expensive and it doesn't last long.  I usually just stick with Sardines and Tuna in a can for fish.  I eat 2 Legion Triton Fish Oil (use code "godlike for 20% off) morning and night for the numerous health benefits.  So I don't sweat eating a ton of fish.  I live in South Florida, so if there are fresh fish and good deals to be had I'll eat 'em up.  But like I just mentioned, reheated fish usually sucks - so I stick with beef/chicken/bison.

Stay strong and shredded folks 💪