Foods That Make You Ripped and Healthy

Foods can make you ripped because food is fuel.

When you put the right fuel in your body, you will:

• Shred fat effortlessly since you won’t be hungry all the time.
• Feel better and thereby have more energy to train hard.
• Have less bloating which makes your waist look more flat throughout the day.

In this blog post, I will teach you about:

• How Foods Can Make You Ripped.
• The Foods That Made Me and My Clients Ripped.
• The Importance of Fruit and Vegetables.
• How To Find The Right Food Strategy For You.

Let’s get started:

How Foods Can Make You Ripped

Foods can make you ripped by filling you up for a longer time, and thereby make you eat less calories over time.

Consider the difference between eating 5 slices of whole wheat bread with peanut butter and a solid meal of steak, eggs, vegetables and potatoes.

The two meals may have a similar amount of calories, but the second meal will fill you up for a much longer time and thereby make you eat less calories on a daily basis.

Because of that you should be choosing meals that keep you satiated and energised for a long time.

Another important factor when choosing foods is digestion.

It’s crucial that you choose foods you can digest well, rather than just eating something because it’s “healthy”.

A food like whole wheat pasta may be considered healthy, but not everyone can digest it properly.

When I eat whole grain pasta (or any other food containing wheat), I get bloated and end up looking pregnant.

I also experience constipation and feel heavy throughout the day.

The same goes for dairy products such as butter, cheese, milk, milk chocolate and pretty much any cake or desert out there.

Whenever I eat just a small amount of those, I get the exact same symptoms as with wheat.

Why Food Digestion Is Important

There are 3 huge benefits to eating foods you digest well:

1. You reduce bloating which will make your waist smaller.
2. You reduce inflammation inside your body. Inflammation is the root cause of most modern diseases such as Alzheimer’s, cancer and heart failure.
3. You feel more alert and energised throughout the day.

Eating right can be the difference between night and day.

If I eat a lot of wheat and dairy, I feel it immediately.

I get acne breakouts on my face, my skin becomes more red and I look like I’m pregnant because my stomach is full of gas.

I used to think I was the only one with digestive problems, but after coaching almost 100 men reading this blog and talking about it with a lot of friends, I’ve found that a bit more than half of people today have digestive issues to some degree!

Now, your digestive issues may or may not be as bad as mine, but just having them is a good reason to optimize your diet.

List Of Foods That Made Me and My Clients Ripped

After 6+ years of experimentation I’ve found a number of foods that work very well for me and most of my Online Transformation Program clients.

High Protein Foods:

• Salmon.
• Ground beef.
• Chicken breast.
• Turkey breast.
• Eggs.

High Fat Foods:

• Coconut oil.
• Extra virgin olive oil.
• Natural peanut butter.

High Carb Foods:

• White rice.
• Brown rice.
• Potatoes.
• Sweet potatoes.
• Quinoa.

So what I basically do here is that I will cook the high protein foods in either coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil, and then have a plate which consists of one of the high protein foods and one of the high carb foods.

Now, I know that the foods above aren’t the only good foods out there.

You can find a large number of foods that will work for your body and your appetite, but it’s best that you start with a small list so you know exactly what’s working and what’s not.

If you’re testing too many foods at the same time, there’s no way to know what’s working.

What About Vegetables and Fruits?

Something I neglected for a long time is green vegetables and fruit.

I always knew that they are good for me, but I didn’t have anyone explain to me why.

Then, one day I decided to get a booked called “Juicing For Men”.

In that book I learned about the benefits of fruits and vegetables, and that convinced me to start eating them.

Here are some of the benefits of various fruits and vegetables:

• Beets boost athletic performance.
• Brocolli keeps estrogen levels low (estrogen is the female hormone which increases fat storage).
• Spinach is rich in magnesium which is known to boost testosterone levels (the main muscle building hormone in your body), and also vitamin A which improves your skin (spinach worked better in clearing up my acne than accutane which is the strongest acne medication out there).
• Pineapple contains bromelain which helps you digest protein.

In other words, if you aren’t eating a lot of vegetables and fruit, you are missing out on an abundance of health and performance benefits.

Besides learning about the benefits of eating vegetables and fruits, I also learned that hunger often means that you’re just lacking vitamins or nutrients.

I remember that before I started eating fruits and vegetables I would often feel hungry and then fill up on rice and beef, but now that I get in my vegetables and fruit I don’t get hungry as often.

There’s only one problem in regards to eating enough fruits and vegetables…

Shopping fresh vegetables on a regular basis, preparing them, doing the clean up and sitting down to eat the 9 servings you need each day takes a lot of time.

And the truth is that even though you know about the benefits of eating your fruits and vegetables, life get’s in the way and you don’t eat them on a consistent basis.

At least, that’s the case for me.

Because of that reason I take Athletic Greens Superfood Cocktail (US page, EU page) every morning instead of eating vegetables.

This supplement makes life easy for me, since I just order order healthy meals (ordering food is cheap here in Bangkok) and then supplement with Athletic Greens to cover my vegetable needs.

Therefore, I suggest that you do the same if you lead a busy lifestyle to ensure that you get in all the vitamins, nutrients and minerals your body needs to perform at its peak.

How to Find the Right Food Strategy For You

By now you should have a good idea of how to structure your diet and find the right foods for you.

The first thing you want to find a set of meals that work for you.

Each meal should have some healthy protein, fat and carbs.

You can then rotate between these protein, fat and carb sources to keep the diet interesting.

When looking for the right foods for you, look for foods that don’t make you constipated, bloated or give you diarrhoea.

If you currently experience stomach problems, it’s most likely because of 2 reasons:

1. You are eating wheat or dairy products. Try cutting them out for 4 days and see if there’s a difference in your digestion.
2. You aren’t eating pineapple every morning. Pineapple cured most of my digestion problems.

Also, remember that even though vegetables and fruits are healthy, it is possible that some of those give you digestion problems!

For example, I cannot eat bananas and need to keep peppers, garlic and onions to a minimum.

When I eat those I get constipated for days.

I’m sure you have some foods that give you problems too, you just don’t know it yet.

Once you’ve experimented a bit with finding the right foods, you start experimenting with things such as meal timing, meal portions and the amount of carbs and protein.

I personally like to start off my day with Athletic Greens (US page, EU page) and some pineapple to get energy for my morning workout.

Then, I will eat about 3 medium sized meals throughout the day after my workout.

This strategy works best for me because it keeps me “light”, energized and focused.

With that said, I know that some of my clients respond better to doing intermittent fasting which essentially means that they skip breakfast and have their first meal around lunch time.

Finding the right strategy takes some time, especially if you’re new to fitness.

It took me 6 years of studying fitness and taking action to optimize the way I eat and my supplement regimen, but that’s also because I wasted a lot of time following the wrong advice.

With that said, it was all worth it because I can maintain a ripped physique now while feeling my best ever.

Regardless of how long time it takes you, remember that you only have one body, and optimizing its health and performance starts with putting the right fuel into it.

Be proud but stay hungry,

Oskar Faarkrog