Learning how to cook great meals is one of the most essential skills to achieving your physique goals. In fact, I believe everyone should master a handful of recipes that they truly and absolute love.
This will make hitting your fitness goals a walk in the park.
But let’s back up a tad… What makes a meal great?
There’s no shortage of cookbooks. In fact, sometimes it seems like there’s a new cookbook just about everyday. Unfortunately, most of these cookbooks don’t get the job done.
You see, smashing your physique goals (building muscle or dropping fat) comes down to a numbers game. It’s about hitting the proper amount of calories, fats, carbs and protein.
Too many cookbooks focus on eating ‘clean foods’ and leave the numbers out of it. This strategy is like trying to throw a dart in pitch black.
Even with the books that focus on calories and macros – many times they fall into one extreme. They either are low carb cookbooks or low fat cookbooks.
As if humans were only meant to eat two out of the three macronutrients bestowed on this earth. Yeah right!
Kino Chef Key #1 – The Importance of Balance
It is my firm and unwavering believe that great meals should be balanced in macronutrients. Forget low fat, forget low carb and forget insanely high protein.
The reality is that all of these macronutrients are incredibly important. For one, a low fat diet suppresses testosterone, typically tastes awful and invites insatiable hunger.
Carbs are equally important in promoting testosterone levels, as carbs trigger the release of neurotransmitters that support sleep, mood and cognitive performance.
Carbs are also important for recovering from training and supporting an anabolic state, since they contribute to insulin and glycogen storage (both are important for supporting muscle gains).
Don’t worry about insulin and fat gain; if your calories are dialed in, it will be a non-issue. In fact, raising insulin intermittently on a cut will help support muscle growth.
And yes, protein is vital for muscle growth among other processes. That said, the common held fitness belief that you need absurdly high levels of protein is flat out, wrong!
Enjoying Life
But all that aside, do you really want to have to choose between fat or carbs? When you learn how to enjoy meals that are balanced in fat and carbs, then you can truly enjoy life.
This is because the best meals include both fat and carbs. I mean, who wants to eat potatoes without butter? Meat without carbs?
Pizza, hamburgers, steak and fries, chipotle bowls…. The best meals have a good ratio of proteins fats and carbs.
When you learn how to balance out your macros, you can truly enjoy the best tasting meals. This requires you to focus on eating lean meats and using just the perfect amount of additional fat for cooking.
Kino Chef Key #2 – The Importance Of Keeping It Simple
To be a true Kino Chef, you need to master simplicity. If you really want fitness and nutrition to fall in the background of your life, you need to learn how to whip up meals effortlessly.
Forget following complicated head ache inducing recipes, forget having to use 101 ingredients. Simplicity is the key to brilliance.
Cooking great meals certainly does not have to be that hard. In fact, my favorite meals are the simplest to make.
We’re busy, we’re getting shit done, we don’t have the time to spend hours in the kitchen. If a meal is not simple to make, I’m not going to make it.
Nor do I want to spend hours preparing foods and cleaning dishes. I’m here to create the life of my dreams. So if a meal is not simple, it’s not a kinobody meal.
Kino Chef Key #3 – The Importance Of Good Taste
As crazy as it sounds, some people believe that ‘fitness meals’ shouldn’t taste good. That bland meals are the way to go.
I couldn’t disagree more! The reality is that supporting a lean, muscular and chiseled physique is as hard as you make it out to be.
If you want to endure boring, tasteless meals, then by all means go for it. That said, you’ll be battling cravings non stop.
And it’s just a matter of time until you act on these cravings, binge eat and destroy days of progress. If you want to truly reach your goals, you need to learn how to love your nutrition plan.
When you make meals that are absolutely delicious, you won’t brood about food all day. You’ll feel completely satisfied. You won’t have to battle cravings.
And you’ll actually stick to the program; this is the real key. If you want to experience amazing results, you need to stick to the program.
Kino Chef Key #4 – The Importance Of Staying Full
Ah yes, the fullness factor, my absolute favorite! When the goal is to rock an absolutely chiseled and fit physique, you need to learn how to stay full on lower calories.
Since, to drop any and excess fat, and stay at a body fat level that very few people will reach, you need to eat low calories.
If you are hungry on your diet, it’s just a matter of time that you’ll give in. Screw hunger! I’m always satisfied and full on my cuts.
Part of this is because I follow intermittent fasting. Because I eat only a couple times per day, I can enjoy big ass meals.
However, I still focus on eating foods that truly keep me full. Lean meats like chicken breast, flank steak, sirloin roasts, eggs/egg whites are my favorite ! As well as, low fat cheese and lots of potatoes among other foods.
In fact, if you want to make getting lean effortless, you need to start incorporating potatoes into your diet. They are awesome and are one of the most filling and satisfying foods known to man.
Pretty much all my clients complain of being too full, despite dropping fat. This has been a huge focus of mine over the last few years.
Learning how to make dropping fat and rocking 7-10% body fat year round, so easy, so enjoyable, that it blows everyones mind.
I believe Kino Chef will take this a step further!
Kino Chef Key #5 – The Importance Of Boosting Health
This wouldn’t be complete if this strategy didn’t support great health and vitality. The reality is that so many people have different views on what diet is the best for health.
If you’re intermittent fasting and maintaining a lean weight (or working towards a lean weight), you are already supporting a very healthy body.
Drinking coffee during your fast has a plethora of health benefits, as well. Then, ensuring a good balance of fats, proteins and carbs takes it a step further.
Finally, basing most of your food intake around meats, veggies, eggs, potatoes and sweet potatoes is a great strategy at providing the body with tons of nutritional value.
In fact, lean beef is one of the best foods you can eat. The vitamin and mineral content in a lean cut of beef is insane!
I also recommend cooking exclusively with oils like coconut oil and macadamia nut oil, that are stable at high temperatures.
There is also something to say about, relaxing and enjoying life! Stop trying to be perfect. I enjoy some chocolate or frozen yogurt ice cream nearly every night, and you know what, my health markers are off the charts.
There’s no need to be perfect. In fact, if you try to be perfect, you’ll probably end up overeating. I mean, if you follow all the rules and try to eat tons of healthy foods, you’re going to end up consuming way too many calories.
This will backfire. So don’t stress about eating perfectly. Enjoy your life. And of course, if you have adverse reactions and intolerances from specific foods, then by all means cut them out.
Want A Complete Book Full Of Tasty Fitness Meals?
I am freaking relieved to announce that the kinobody cookbook – Kino Chef – is finally finished and is now available!
So many people have been asking me when it’s going to be done, and I kept pushing it back.
But thankfully… It’s done!
Kino Chef is really one of a kind. It encompasses all of the above five keys!
Check it out by clicking here.
NEW Article - Get Shredded on 2 Workouts Per Week
How I stayed lean while gaining muscle traveling Europe this summer, training just 2 times per week. You need to try this. Click Here to Read...
*Training just 2 times per week has allowed me to gain strength and muscle at rate I never knew was possible.
Makes it easier to stay lean as well. I know this sounds counterintuitive, but let me show you precisely the body part split I’m using.