Take the Eat Clean, Train Mean 6 Week Nutrition Challenge to level up your health! Can you change your life in 6 weeks? Yup! Listen in to learn how. Six weeks from now you will be feeling better, lighter, faster, and have new abilities like jumping over tall buildings. You’ll feel like that anyhow.
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This challenge is designed to be a “reset” that can dramatically increase your health, and make you look and feel better, possibly better than you have ever felt.Nutrition is a critical part of results–no matter how hard you try you cannot out-train a bad diet. This is not simply a weight loss challenge. It is for anyone looking to see positive changes in their performance, energy levels, body fat percentage, and biomarkers.
Below you will find the details. This is a six-week long, two-part challenge, and can be started at any time. Doing this type of challenge twice a year, spring and fall is an excellent way to “level up” your health and get rid of bad habits on a regular basis.
It’s not designed to last long term, and it has the word “challenge” in it for a reason. But by eating super clean and working out at least 4 times a week, you can really see improvements in your health and decrease some of your bad cravings and tendencies.
PHASE 1 Quality (20 days)
During this entire challenge, try to hit the gym 4-5 times per week, and increase the intensity from what you normally do. Workouts should be hard and intense, but last no more than an hour. HIIT style training (high-intensity interval training) is ideal, but go with whatever “floats your boat.” But getting on an Elliptical for 20 minutes while reading a book really won’t cut it, this is designed to get your outside your comfort zone.
Nutrition:
Most people are nutrient deficient in more ways than one. By choosing nutrient-dense foods, we can help to eliminate those deficiencies and help bring our bodies back to homeostasis. On this plan, you will be choosing your foods off of a list. This will ensure we are eating the right types of foods for sustained health and longevity. You will notice the absence of things like bacon, sausage, and other high-fat meats. Just like many of the processed carbohydrates we avoid, these foods are often void of nutrients, yet very dense in calories.
Chicken Breast
Chicken Thighs
Center Cut Pork Loin
Fish
90/10 (or above) grass-fed beef/bison
Top Sirloin
Top Round
Tenderloin (beef/pork)
Eggs
Ground Turkey Breast (*90/10 or above)
Turkey Tenderloin
Turkey Breast
Cottage Cheese
*NO DELI MEATS
*ALL MEATS MUST BE SKINLESSCarbohydrates
Beets
Yam
Potato
Sweet Potato
Butternut Squash
Acorn Squash
Plantains
All FruitsVegetables
Leafy Greens
Broccoli
Green Beans
Cauliflower
Peppers
Onions
Mushrooms
Asparagus
Zucchini
Eggplant
Cucumber
Radishes
Cabbage
Tomato
Brussel Sprouts
Carrots
Fat
Grass Fed Butter
Olive Oil
Coconut Oil
Avocado
Avocado oil
Macadamia oil
Homemade dressings (2 tbsp**)
Olives
Raw Almonds
Raw Pecans
Raw Walnuts
Raw Macadamia Nuts
Raw Nut Butter **
(No other ingredients and must be made with one of the above nuts)
Less ideal, but acceptable:
Plain Greek Yogurt, Brown Rice, Whole Wheat Pasta, Nut milk varieties (unsweetened), Whole Wheat bread (1 slice per meal, 2 max per day)
Example: No cheats.
Example: Condiments (salad dressing, mayo, bbq sauce, ketchup, etc), one tortilla chip, one Cheerio, one bit or a sip of anything that is not allowed.
Example: A half glass of wine or one beer, finished your kid’s Mac ’N Cheese, a piece of bread at dinner.
Example: You had Pizza or pasta for dinner, an alcoholic drink, or dessert.
Example: You went off the rails at dinner and then went out for drinks.
1 Point: You worked out that day
1 Point: Drink at least half your body weight in ounces each day, in addition to what you drank when working out.
1 Point: 20 minutes listening to or reading a health-related book or podcast
1 Point: 10 Minutes or more of meditation
Quality & Quantity
To keep it simple, we are providing a guide for how many meals/snacks you should eat each day and utilizing the “hand method” to help you measure out your meals. The Hand method is super easy, the carbs should be the size of your closed fist, protein the size of your palm, and fats the size of your thumb.The amount of meals each day is based on your shirt size, for both men and women. Here’s how it works:
Small: 3 meals
Medium: 3 meals plus 1-2 snacks
Large: 4 meals
X-Large: 4 meals plus 1-2 snacks.
The Snacks are chosen from the whole foods, or a SUPER healthy bar like the Good 2 Go bar in the refrigerated section at Costco qualifies. Bars that don’t need refrigeration don’t count. The 1-2 is based on how hungry you are. If hungry have 2, if you don’t need 2, just have one.
Example: No cheats.
Example: Condiments (salad dressing, mayo, bbq sauce, ketchup, etc), one tortilla chip, one Cheerio, one piece, bit, or sip of anything that is not allowed.
Example: Finished your kid’s Mac ’N Cheese, piece of bread at dinner, or an alcoholic drink.
Example: You had Pizza or pasta for dinner, more than one alcoholic drink, dessert.
Example: You went off the rails at dinner and then went out for drinks.
2 Points: Perfect quantity of food
You have the correct amount of meals/snacks in a day1 Point: minor slip
You are within ½ a meal of your daily goal
You are more than ½ a meal over or under your daily goal.
1 Point: You worked out that day
1 Point: Drink at least half your body weight in ounces each day, in addition to what you drank when working out.
1 Point: 20 minutes listening to or reading a health-related book or podcast
1 Point: 10 Minutes or more of meditation
Should I supplement protein pre or post workout?
This will be different based on your own personal goals. A protein shake is not required. If you choose to have a protein shake, its best to have it within 1 hour after your workout. It is important that you are getting adequate fuel throughout the day to speed recovery and restore your glycogen. As long as you are eating a meal within 1-2 hours pre and post workout, you don’t really need a protein shake. If weight loss is your goal, we recommend trying to stick to whole foods, no shake.
BCAAs/Amino Acids/Electrolytes/Creatine?
Pre/Intra/Post Workout Only
Not permitted during the challenge
Balsamic vinegar (must be the only ingredient), red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, mustard, hot sauce (check label for additives/sugar), spices, and seasonings are okay (read the ingredients!), garlic cloves, herbs.
The only source of sweetener can come from whole foods, AKA Fruit, or 2 tablespoons of honey or REAL maple syrup (the kind that comes out of a tree, not a factory). No molasses, fake maple syrup, table sugar, coconut sugar, stevia, other artificial sweeteners.
I understand that these cases do come up. For 41 days, we are asking you to prepare all of your meals at home so you will be losing at least a point. If you eat out, do your best to portion the meal out and eat within the guidelines. Unless you know exactly how that meal was prepared (you watched it happen) you cannot get full points for it. If you are eating a super healthy restaurant and can get them to make your meal strictly within the guidelines then that’s OK. Otherwise, this is called a challenge for a reason. While it is definitely not sustainable in the long term, we are looking for maximum results in this 6-week time span so almost all meals eaten out will lose points unless they are made perfectly within the rules.
Make sure you are staying hydrated by getting plenty of water. You should never be “starving.” Work on timing out meals strategically to help keep you from going too long without eating. You can also save some of your “meal” for a snack.
These are okay but need to be unsweetened, and a little milk is ok, but no more than ¼ cup total each day. Almond milk is also ok but only ¼ cup and it needs to be “original” almond milk – no “vanilla” or “sweetened”.
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Note that this information is presented as educational in nature and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure or prevent any disease.
