Adelfo Cerame: Simple Recipes to Go With a Sensible Diet. A Practical Follow Up on the "Beach Ready Program"

Adelfo's latest pictures... believe it or not - after the Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger ;-)

With the last installment of his blogpost series here at the SuppVersity in the back of your heads, you should actually have a decent idea of how to train and split your macros to get "beach ready" in time. There is yet one thing of enormous practical importance that did remain somewhat in the dark. Where do you get those macros from? As Adelfo did of course point out, you are supposed to put a primer on whole foods, but I guess few of you will be happy with eating everything raw out of bag you carried with yourself home when you did your groceries at the farmer's market, supermarket or wherever you like to buy your foods... Are you the gal/guy who still feels that "healthy eating" equals downing blunt chicken breast, tuna and rice an nibbling on rice cakes as a "cheat"?!

Then today's follow up on Adelfo's highly popular "Adelfo Cerame's Beach Ready Program: A Blueprint to Shed The Winterfat in Time. Sample Workout + Diet Guide" from April, 18 2012 is for you and there is little for me (=Adel) to do, but lean back and have you enjoy Adelfo Cerame's cookery & nutrition class ;-)

Simple recipes to go with a sensible diet…

Now that you've got an idea of your daily overall energy requirements (depending on your goals) and the corresponding macronutrient goals, that you have internalized that you are supposed to prioritize protein and fiber in all of your meals and have - hopefully - finally realized that all foods are “OK” to eat - including those that contain carbohydrates! You don’t have to deprive yourself any more of certain foods because they are deemed evil.

If you approach your nutrition with balance, moderation and consistency, you will be succeed - whatever your goals may be and no matter how long it takes!

I will take my own current dietary intake as an example to illustrate how to put all these important principles into practice. A sensible and above all flexible approach to what is - in my case - an off season diet.

I have outlined my current macro-nutrient intake as well as a handful of stats and my current goal in the infobox on the right hand side of this paragraph. It's advisable that you write a similar "primer" for yourself, especially when this is the first time you are dieting this way. This help you stay accountable and combine foods in a way that will allow you to "hit your macros" and grow, lose fat and/or increase your performance (or whatever other goals you had in mind, when you came up with the "rules") - for me the net result of this process looked like that:

• This was my food log from yesterday
  
  Meal 1 – Pre-Workout Meal/ Macros: 24g fat/ 51g carbs/ 44g protein/ 5g fiber
  
  
  I was out meeting with a client at a local coffee shop and by the time it was over I realized that it was time for me to train in an hour or so. So I knew that I would be caught for time and wouldn’t have time to cook, so I stopped by the nearest fast food spot and grabbed myself a jr. bacon cheeseburger that I knew would fit within my macronutrient goals for the day… went home and made myself a quick protein shake and grabbed an apple to go with that as well, along with my multivitamins, fish oil and vitamin D3, so still prioritizing protein and fiber and getting in my serving of fruit when breaking my fast. (don’t let the cheeseburger fool ya!) And it’s off to train I go!
  
  Meal #2 Post-Workout meal/ 20g fat/ 142g carbs/ 68g protein/ 11g fiber 
  
  
  After my workout, I was having the urge for some loco moco (it’s a Hawaiian dish) it’s pretty simple to make but can be pretty fattening if you order from a restaurant, so I made my own so to make sure that I would stay within my fat intake for the day. Your traditional loco moco dish uses white rice, burger patties, whole eggs and brown gravy – the only adjustments I made was using a leaner burger patty (96/4 extra lean) and used brown rice instead of white because more fiber in brown rice (again… prioritizing fiber!) I also threw in 200g of mixed greens on the side so I can get my serving of vegetables for the day as well ;-)
  
  Meal #3 before bed/ 7g fat/ 104g carbs/ 78g protein/ 22g fiber
  
  
  By the end of the night, I pretty much hit my goals for getting at least one serving of fruit, at least one serving of veggies and the majority of the 25-55g of fiber listed in the info-box a couple of paragraphs above.
  
  The only thing I had left to hit was my protein intake and that’s usually pretty easy - if nothing else, you just grab a protein shake or quest bar.
  
  Once I hit my goals for the day I usually use the rest of my energy allotment for the day to eat I have left in the fats and carbs department from whatever I feel likeon a given day.
  

So at first glance, especially with the Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger I ate pre-workout…. You’re probably thinking ...

"WTF?! He eats like shit!!!"

An overview of my macronutrient intake for the day - de facto intake vs. goals.

But hold on there kemosabe… If you look below at my totals I stayed well within my macronutrient goals and hit more than enough fiber for the day.

In the end you will have to concide that "my approach" definitely has it's beauty, right? After all, I ate the foods I wanted, just as long as I stayed within my goals for the day.

Ah, and in case you're asking yourselves "What happened to the intermittent fasting? Didn't Adelfo follow an IF routine so successfully?" I still incorporate an intermittent fasting meal protocol into my regimen, because I love having my big Viking style feasts!

---

Bonus: Adelfo's recipe of the week

Before signing off, I leave you with the recipe to one of my favorite post-workout meals. I call it the“Ahi Tuna Bacon Sashimi Bowl”– don't worry it sounds complicated, but is in fact very simple to make:

Healthy food does not have to taste blatant, it does not have to be difficult to prepare and it does not have to consist of chicken, broccoli and rice only. Adelfo's Ahi Tuna Bacon Sashimi Bowl is an excellent example, but by no means the only delicious and healthy food you can prepare in no time even if you are no Michelin-starred chef.

Ingredients (*):

• 10 oz. sashimi grade wild caught Ahi Tuna
• 1 strip of center cut bacon
• 400g of mixed greens (romaine, spinach, herb, slaw…)
• 2 (85g) baby beets
• 100g of sliced roma tomatoes
• rice wine vinegar, Ponzu sauce, Sriracha sauce
• 1 tbsp. sesame oil, sesame seeds

• Directions: (1) Throw in all your greens in bowl (2) Pour some rice wine vinegar and ponzu sauce with the mix and toss (3) Layer the baby beets and diced tomatoes on top of the greens (4) Layer the sliced and diced ahi tuna next (5) Sprinkle the bacon that you fried and cut into pieces (6) Pour your tbsp. of sesame oil on top of everything (7) Top it off with sriracha hot sauce and sesame seeds (8) Eat (9) Wash it down with a shot of sake and a cold Sapporo ;-)

*These portions are based on my macronutrient goals for the day, so measure accordingly to yours… and shot of sake and glass of Sapporo is optional ;-)