And that is a good thing cause;

Nutrition is the most important aspect of getting and staying lean and muscular. You can work out perfectly on weights and cardio, but if you do not focus on what you are putting in your mouth, you will only get half way to your true potential.

Eating to gain muscle and lose fat really is easy.

Actually it is common sense, once you understand a few basic rules.

There are three basic aspects that are important in eating for fitness.

1. You need to eat higher quality natural unprocessed foods versus low quality processed foods. Most would agree that this one is common sense.

Obviously 2,000 calories of chicken, salad, and broccoli is the way to go versus 2,000 calories of Twinkies and spam.

If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was manufactured in a plant, stay away from it!

IF IT ROTS, IT IS GOOD FOR YOU!

To find high quality, unprocessed foods that will work great for you remember the term;

"Lean, Green, and Marine"

Lean; proteins (chicken, lean red meat, whey protein, eggs, cottage cheese, turkey, pork) have the best thermic affect of all the food groups.

For every 100 calories you consume, the body burns 30 calories just to digest, utilize and eliminate it. Plus lean proteins satiate your appetite best.

Green; (Salads, veggies, apples, green-beans,
fruit) are full of fiber/vitamins/minerals (the more color the better) and water. 300 calories of Green is a mountain of food, versus 300 calories of starchy crabs (pasta, potatoes, and breads) will not even wet your palate. It is impossible to over eat on Green.

Marine; Healthy fats from fish (salmon, tilapia, red snapper, whit fish, nuts (almonds, brazil nuts, walnuts), avocado’s, flax and olive oil are very important to help keep our hormone levels balanced properly. This area of nutrition is very often overlooked. Trust me, if you take your fat intake too low, your body will shut down and your ability to reach your true potential will be limited.

2. You need to eat small meals often with protein and carbs combined together.

If you eat one meal per day of high quality food, that’s better than eating one meal of junk. But to really rev your metabolism up & to really reach your true fitness potential you need to eat smaller and more often with high quality protein and carbs combined together.

A recent study at Harvard showed that those that ate a healthy breakfast had over 8% less body fat on average then those who skipped it.

You also want to taper your calories through the day.
Trust me when I tell you that there is lot of truth to the old adage "Eat Breakfast Like A King, Lunch Like a Prince, and Supper Like a Pauper".

I know that if you are in the habit of not eating break- fast, that you do not have a hunger level in the morning.
But the key is to slowly work into it.

Start by eating a tiny breakfast in the a.m. Maybe it is just one egg and a couple spoon fulls of oatmeal. If you want to speed up the process, get up 15 minutes early and get your heart rate up by powerwalking or any activity that raises your heart rate. Plus the added benefit is that you feel much more awake and alert versus sleeping in.

You must work up to eating 6 small meals per day. Now do not get overwhelmed. We are not talking meals like most of you are thinking; a huge plate that has side rails on it just to hold everything on it.

We are talking about small meals like;

1. An average size chicken breat and an apple 2. A 1/2 cup of oatmeal and 3-5 Egg white, 2 yolk ommlette 3. A can of tuna on an organic salad 4. 30 grams of whey protein and an apple 5. 4 – 5 ounces of turkey on a wheat tortilla 6. Tuna, olive oil, lemon juice on a tortilla wrap

The options are endless if you just use your imagination a a little.

Most people who come to me do not eat breakfast, eat a huge lunch at noon, and a huge dinner around 6:30 p.m.
It only takes about 2-3 weeks of eating smaller meals to work up to 6 meals per week.

3. Cycle Your Calories By Eating More Starchy Carbs on Work-out Days; and only Non Starchy carbs on non work- out and cardio days.

Starchy carbs are brown / wild rice, oatmeal, whole wheat pasta, sweet potatoes

Non Starchy carbs are veggies, green beans, salads, apples

Make sure that you eat a non starchy carb with your protein for every meal; on work out, cardio, and non work-out days.

The only thing to remember is to add a starchy carb to 2-4 meals per day on work-out days. This is what body builders refer to as carb cycling. And it will work wonderfully for you.

You see it keeps the body guessing and it will never shut down your metabolism because of calorie deprivation which is what happens to most people when they go on a diet and severely limit their calories.

Eating this way is fun and very effective at gaining muscle
and losing fat. It keeps all of your bodies anabolic hormones at optimal levels.

If you have been considering trying my "FatLoss Lifestyle 12 Week Body Transformation" out, I urge you to make the jump. Go on over to www.FatLossMastermind.com right now and give it a test run. There is no risk, if you do not like it for what ever reason, I will refund you money, no questions asked.

About the Author:
Darin Steen is an internationally recognized Personal Trainer certified through A.C.E. & N.A.S.M. He is the owner of Steen’s Elite Physique’s Private Training Studio in Chicago, Ill. He lectures across the United States and writes for various magazines and popular web sites.