[b]Imagine you're in a situation (work, plane, train,
automobile) where you just didn't prepare any
healthy foods. Maybe you are in a situation
where the only choice to eat something is junk
food.

I'm sure this doesn't happen to you that often
right?

But when it does, should you eat junk foods to
keep your metabolism up or would it be more
beneficial to not eat at all?

Let me tell you a little story about a guy who
got into a few situations where the food choices
were not ideal. His goal was to build muscle and
burn off fat. This guy worked out pretty hard,
was trying to eat right but occasionally life got
in the way and he made poor nutrition choices.
Not all the time mind you just when there was
nothing else to eat and he was between a rock
and a hard place.

He choose to eat the junk food.
Guess what happened to him?

He's fine!

That guy was me (duh) and I've been in plenty of
situations where I didn't plan or the food around
me at the time wasn't ideal.

Key Concept ... if you can follow your nutrition
plan 90% of the time you will be perfectly fine.

That means you can get away with eating junk
every so often and not make a dent in your
progress.

By now, you're probably wondering if there's any
difference if a person is trying to lose fat or
bulk up and if that makes any difference in the
answer.

If you are trying to lose fat, then having a
protein is ideal as you won't store as much of
the "junk" food as fat. Let's say you have no
choices for whatever reason, then get your
hands on the best protein you can and stick with
that. I would suggest eating the least un-healthy
parts of any available food.

The most important part of any meal is keeping your
body's nitrogen balance in the positive. That
means protein!

If you are trying to bulk and gain weight, you
can give yourself a little more room to make
mistakes. While it's still true that you wouldn't
want to put on any excess fat, bulking does
require a surplus of calories so the rules loosen
up a bit.

In either case, don't eat more calories than you
normally would for that meal.

If you find yourself at a fast food restaurant,
check out any available nutritional facts and
make the best choices possible (salads, grilled
chicken, etc.).

If you find only vending machines in your
location, look for the lowest fat and sugar
snacks.

If all you have is a choice of a candy bar, then
hold your breath until the next meal. ;-)
Here's what else...

"There's no ideal preparation place at work."

Many people fall into that category and there's a
wonderful and cheap solution to the preparation
conundrum.

It's called Tupperware and a small lunchbox
cooler.

Guess what you can put into something like
that?

* cottage cheese
* sandwiches
* vegetables
* fruits

All it takes it a little prep time at home for the
work environment where there's no ideal
preparation situation.

So it all adds up to this...

If you occasionally find yourself hungry and in a
situation where the food choices are not ideal,
then go ahead and eat that burger or pizza. You
can still toss off any of the items on it that are
just sugary or horrible to eat and still make the
best of a bad situation.

If you find yourself daily in these situations then
you need to plan more at home before getting
into them as eating junk will be part of your
routine and that will affect your goals.

I've never known anybody who made some junk
food choices ever so often to lose their abs or
put on 15 lbs of fat overnight.
While you want to be strict most of the time
(90% rule) you do have room to play when life
throws you a curve ball.

The question now is "Would you rather skip a meal than eat junk?"

Share your thoughts!! [/b]