Soulmate food fitness gourmet : deliciouse recipes for peak performance at any level

407 Pages·2015·10.76 MB·English

by  Coates

fitness
gourmet
Photography by Yuki Sugiura
fitness gourmet
Christian Coates
Contents
Introduction
What is the diet code?
One recipe three ways
Get to grips with the basics
What does water do for you?
Grazing is good
Your route through the day
A visual approach to eating
Clean and natural foods
Eating plans for specific goals
Eat to manage weight
Eat to keep healthy
Eat to build your body
Eat to toughen up
Eat to play team sports
Recipes
Breakfasts
Snacks
Main meals
Juices, shakes & smoothies
Acknowledgements
Index
Introduction
Call it a eureka moment, but it suddenly became apparent
to me how generic and misleading most off-the-shelf diets
are. When people follow set plans from a newspaper or in
‘traditional’ diet books, they are asked to follow a ‘one size
fits all’ approach. These ineffective plans may start well but
they are completely unrealistic and, therefore,
unsustainable. Users of such plans often fail as they see
results plateauing due to lack of variety or not being able to
adapt to fit in with their day-to-day life. Through my own
experience, if some days I wasn’t able to exercise or I had
been travelling, the plan would recommend me to eat
certain quantities for that day, regardless of what I was
doing. Ultimately, the lack of flexibility meant I would
overeat and not get the desired results. Failure was
inevitable.
This realisation was the driving force behind the formation
of Soulmatefood. I wanted to offer bespoke, tailored
nutrition and hassle-free meals direct to the door. Not just
strictly aimed at traditional weight loss, but also to fulfil
other areas, such as vitality, sports performance, energy
and appearance, while utilising top-quality ingredients and
vibrant gourmet recipes. Any eating plan needs to be
sustainable and this can only be underpinned through
education with regard to how and what someone eats – I’m
talking portion control, meal frequency, learning which
carbs are good, which foods are high in protein, which fats
are best and choosing foods that are potent nutritional
ingredients.
After working with clients who vary from complete
nutritional novices to top-level professional athletes, it
became apparent that I needed to design a concept that
could deliver a nutritional ethos that worked for all levels.
One that could be incredibly simple and basic to follow, or as
bespoke (or precise) as you need for specific physical results.
Hence Fitness Gourmet was born.
The recipes in this book are put together to banish the
misconception that healthy food has to be mundane,
tasteless and bland. The Soulmatefood team and I are
realistic; we aren’t the type of people who haven’t eaten a
carb since the age of 16. We are passionate about flavours,
tastes and colours and enjoy creating über-healthy spins on
meals that are traditionally seen as indulgent or bad for
you. Every dish in this book serves a purpose and this is half
the battle, especially getting the carb/protein levels right to
fit into each of the three categories! This book has been put
together by leading nutritionists and top chefs who we have
been fortunate enough to work with. I am delighted to be
able to bring such a high level of nutritional knowledge and
high standard of recipes into your home.
So, wave goodbye to the days of obsessing about numbers
and calorie counting, our ethos is based around portion
control, quality of ingredients and ratios of proteins to
carbohydrates. The plan is simple to follow and meals can
be enjoyed on your own, with a partner (who may have a
completely different goal), your family and even the whole
office, sports team or group of friends.
I hope you enjoy creating your own specific diet code to stick
to, there are plenty of examples in the book to give you
inspiration. Not only that, I’m sure you will be motivated to
get in the kitchen and start experimenting with ingredients,
cooking techniques and tastes and flavours not normally
associated with being on a ‘diet’.

What is the diet code?
The diet code is a simple and straightforward way to achieve
your goals for nutrition and fitness. It can be tailored to any
goal and any level of fitness and training, from complete
beginner to professional athlete. There are three basic levels –
Burn, Balance and Build – each with its own symbol.
No decoding needed
The diet code is an at-a-glance way of choosing dishes that do
you good, while coordinating with your chosen exercise and
level of activity. Every meal has a variation that is shown with
the symbols for Burn, Balance and Build. So, if you want to cook,
for example, Steak with chicory slaw and salsify chips (see
here), just look for the relevant symbol on the page and that’s
the meal you’re cooking. With this example, the Balance meal is
just as described; the Burn option replaces the salsify chips with
celeriac chips; and the Build variation has a steamed corn on
the cob as an extra side. It really is that simple.
The easiest and simplest way to reach the goals set out
opposite is to follow your chosen symbol for every meal time.
Choose this approach if you want simplicity but also great
results.
Intermediate and amateur sportspeople can implement a
mixed solution: varying their intake by choosing differently
coded dishes in line with training or active days. So, for instance,
if you know you’ve got an exercise class on a Tuesday, switch to
Build dishes on a Monday to fuel up and get the most out of
your active period the next day. Thus, you can customise your
menu by the day.
For serious athletes and dedicated sports/gym goers, the
concept can be modified by the meal. Maximise performance by