Jenny Hendershott

Eating for Results

Special Excerpt from The Curvelle Lifestyle by Jenny Hendershott

As a champion fitness competitor, I field a lot of questions from girls who want to improve their bodies. But there's one question I get more often than any other: "Jenny, what do you eat?" The first thing I tell the girls who ask me this question is that there are certain things in my diet that work for me that might not work for them, because every body is different. In this chapter, I will give you some tips for customizing your diet to fit your needs, tastes, and lifestyle.

Nevertheless, we're all human, and the general rules of healthy eating do apply to everyone. For example, we all need to eat plenty of protein from lean sources to build muscle tone and keep our hunger under control.

I pay very close attention to my diet, and I have learned a lot about what works and what doesn't. I might not have a Ph.D. in nutrition, but you know what? I wouldn't trade bodies with any scientist in the world! My point is that knowledge is one thing, and results are another. If you're like me, getting results is all you're interested in. Keep reading and I'll show how to eat to get the results you're looking for—to create your Curvelle body—without a lot of fuss.

More Protein, Fewer Carbs

The most common problem I see in the food choices of women in general is that they eat too many carbs and not enough protein. A high-protein diet is essential if you want to achieve a lean, toned body. First of all, protein is the material your muscles are made of. To build muscle tone, you have to provide enough material to get the job done. I recommend that you get 25 to 35 percent of your daily calories from protein, or 0.5 to 0.7 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight daily. You should try to include a good protein source in almost every meal and snack.

Another advantage of a high-protein diet is that protein is the most filling macronutrient. Eating plenty of protein reduces your hunger, so you're less likely to overeat. Also, it takes more energy for your body to digest protein than it takes to digest carbs and fats. In other words, protein makes your body burn more calories than carbs and fats do.

At the same time you increase the amount of protein in your diet, you should decrease the amount of carbs. The first problem with carbs is that your body converts them to fat very easily. They're a great energy source, but whenever you eat more carbs than your body needs for immediate energy, the excess is converted into fat and goes straight to your tummy and hips.

The other big problem with carbs is they are addictive. Every carbohydrate source is either full of sugar (soda, cookies) or is broken down into sugar in your body.

When sugar enters your bloodstream, you get a "high." And like any high, the sugar high doesn't last long, and once it's gone, you want it back. So you eat more carbs! If you want to achieve your best body, you have to break free from carbohydrate addiction. This can be as hard for some girls as giving up cigarettes is for a smoker. My advice is that you don't go cold turkey. Instead of cutting out pasta completely, start measuring it, and eat only half a cup. If you drink three sodas a day, switch to one soda a day, then one soda every other day, and then one a week. Maybe that's as far as you'll ever get. It's not perfect, but it's a lot better than what you were doing—and that was overdoing it.

You can find whole-grain alternatives to bread, pasta, cereal, and other carbs that digest slower, provide less of a sugar spike, and are healthier overall. But I don't think these alternatives are the key to success (although they are better choices). Moderation is the key to success. If you enjoy eating bread, go ahead and eat a slice—not four sandwiches a day. And if you go out to dinner, don't eat four pieces of bread before your entrée comes. Eat one piece with your entrée. It's all about common sense and, again, moderation.

Fruits and vegetables are also good sources of carbohydrates and sugar. They also provide lots of vitamins and minerals and fiber. The great thing about fruits and veggies is that they are not very energy-dense compared to other carb sources. This means that an ounce of fruit or veggies has fewer calories than an ounce of bread or pasta—a lot fewer. Because they contain plenty of water and fiber, which have no calories, fruits and veggies take up a large volume of space in your tummy without adding many calories. Fruits are the best source of sugar for your sugar cravings.

Eating on a Schedule

What you eat is not the only important thing to consider in your diet. When you eat is just as important. To achieve your Curvelle body, you should eat frequently throughout the day. Believe it or not, people who eat only two or three times a day are more likely to be overweight than people who eat six or more times. The reason is because when you eat frequently, your meals are smaller. And when your meals are smaller, more of the calories you eat are used to supply your immediate energy needs, and fewer calories are stored as fat. The more small meals you eat, the faster your metabolism becomes, which results in greater fat burning. So I recommend that you eat five to seven times per day. Here's an example of how this schedule works:

Meal 1: 6:00 a.m. Protein with a carb (e.g., egg whites and oatmeal)

Meal 2: 9:00 a.m. Protein (e.g., Eat-Smart Nutrition Shake)

Meal 3: 12:00 p.m. Protein and veggie (salad with diced chicken breast)

Meal 4: 2:00 p.m. Fruit (e.g., half a grapefruit)

Meal 5: 5:00 p.m. Protein and carb (e.g., grilled salmon and a small sweet potato)

Meal 6: 8:00 p.m. Snack (e.g., low-fat yogurt)

Meal 7: 11:00 p.m. Fruit and protein (e.g., strawberries mixed in half a serving of Eat-Smart)

To make this system work, you need to consistently have meals with you when it's time to eat. Always cook, pack, and prepare your meals the night before you need them, so there are no excuses for not following the meal plan. Get a cooler and live out of it. At Phat Camp, I tell the girls, "Everyone in this room should have a cooler with her." There may be a handful of campers who show up with coolers already. I'll ask one of them if I can borrow hers and then I'll unpack it and show the other campers what she has in the cooler. It allows the other girls to see that normal people can do this. It's not just for competitors.

The most important time of all to eat is after your workout. When you finish a workout, your muscles are damaged and low on energy, you're dehydrated, and your body is crying out for nutrition for recovery. Research has shown that people who eat right after a workout are able to repair and refuel their muscles much faster than people who wait to eat.

The most important nutrient to consume after your workouts is—you guessed it—protein. If you consistently take in protein after your workouts, you will build muscle tone much faster than you would otherwise.

Portion Distortion

At least three quarters of the girls who come to Phat Camp are trying to lose 10 pounds or more. If you're trying to lose just a few pounds, you can probably achieve this goal just by improving your food choices, switching to a schedule of five to seven meals per day, and perhaps increasing your exercise. But if you're trying to lose 10 pounds or more, you also have to eat less. This means reducing the food portions you serve and prepare for yourself. I always tell the campers, "Don't supersize—downsize!" Supersizing is what got you into this mess; downsizing will get you out of it.

Don't trust your eyeballs to do the job. Measure and weigh the food portions that you prepare and serve yourself.

Counting calories can also help you lose weight. Start by writing down everything you eat and drink in a day. Then figure out how many calories these foods and drinks provided. You can do this by looking at food labels, by using a book such as The Complete Book of Food Counts, or by looking things up on a calorie counter website such as thecaloriecounter.com or nutritiondata.com.

To lose one pound per week, you need to cut roughly 500 calories a day from this total.

Reward Yourself

Being consistent with your eating plan throughout the week is essential for success. But on Friday or Saturday night (not both!), you have to be human and enjoy yourself. You have family and friends who like to eat, and there are events and celebrations that you need to be able to attend and enjoy.

I believe in allowing yourself a "cheat meal" once a week if you are trying to lose weight or sculpt muscle while following a meal plan. There is a difference between a cheat meal and a cheat day. A cheat meal is a reward—something you earn. It's something you plan for and you have to wait for, but not too long, so it helps motivate you to stay on track.

A cheat day is an unplanned lapse in your diet that puts you off track and makes it difficult to get back on. Feel free to eat whatever you want in your cheat meal. Some of my favorites are pizza, chicken wraps, chicken burritos, salmon, steaks, burgers, chicken fajitas, and other fun foods.

It's extremely important that you get up the next day after your cheat meal and get a good workout and get back on that meal plan. I call it the teeter-totter effect. If you play hard, you have to pay hard. If you go out to dinner and have a big cheat meal, the next morning when you wake up, go straight to the gym and work off what you ate. You might feel sluggish and bloated, but you'll feel better if you get up and work it off.

Drink (Water) to Your Health!

Water is the most important nutrient for health. A human being can survive for more than a month without food but only a few days without water. I know that when I get tired and start to drag, it's probably because I haven't had enough water. As soon as I start pounding down glasses of water, I start to feel a lot better. I recommend drinking at least one gallon of water each day.

Drinking lots of water also helps you lose weight. According to one recent study, dieters who replaced sugary beverages with water lost approximately five more pounds in a one-year time period than those who did not. Even more interesting, dieters who not only replaced sugary drinks with water but also drank two extra glasses of water per day lost an additional two pounds, on average, over one year.

Customize Your Diet

If we could all eat the same and look the same, wouldn't that make life easier? Unfortunately, that's not the way the good Lord created us. The perfect eating plan is different for each person. Genetics play a huge role in determining what type of diet works best for an individual. I always tell people, "You are your mother. You are your father." For example, both of my parents are very tiny people. I will never be a big person because of this. I am very fortunate, but I do have friends and family members who are less fortunate, so I understand the challenge a lot of people are up against.

On the negative side, I'm carb-sensitive. I've learned that when I eat a lot of carbs, I feel big, bloated, and tired. So I avoid things like pasta and bread and foods with a lot of sugar. When I eat pasta, I feel like it's still lying in my stomach two days later. Other people are not carb-sensitive. They can eat pasta and bread in moderation and still feel great and look terrific. There are a million other examples of foods and eating habits that work for some people and don't work for others.

So, how do you figure out what works best for you? Get a journal and start logging and taking notes on everything you eat and drink. Keeping a food journal helps you connect cause and effect with your diet. Because you have a record of everything you put in your body, you can look over it with your results in mind to see what works and what doesn't.

For example, if you lose 10 pounds in four weeks, you know that what you are doing works. Look back over your food journal to make sure you're still eating the same stuff that gave you these great results. But let's say you change your diet after four weeks, and before you know it, you've put on five pounds. Now your journal will help you identify exactly what you did differently that caused you to gain weight, so you can change it back.

But also watch how foods make you feel. Were you more energetic or lethargic after eating certain foods? It's really a process of educating yourself about your body. You learn what works for you and what doesn't—what your body is sensitive to and what your body can and cannot handle.

The more you learn, the more control you have over your body, your weight, your health, and your energy level. Knowledge is power!

Editor's Note: Click here to get your copy of the The Curvelle Lifestyle and learn all of Jenny's powerful, proven techniques and discover her dynamic blueprint for how to create your absolute best body.

And don't miss the second part Jenny's Nutrition Plan in the next issue of Real Solutions!

• Detonate Your Explosive Muscular Power
• Back to Issue 61 Table of Contents

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