With the semester ending early on campuses and brothers taking classes from home, many SigEps have asked how to keep brothers connected. To meet that need, we’re adding content on SigEp’s Instagram page and holding twice-weekly meetups. These are intended to help you and your members develop now while getting you ready to hit the ground running when in-person classes resume.

Dr. Ilya Igolnikov, Colorado ’07, shared three quick tips for those interested in maximizing their nutrition. Dr. Igolnikov is Assistant Fellowship Director, Spine Sports MSK Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. Here’s are his quick tips for improving your personal nutrition:

1. Make your nutrition plan applicable to you.

Often, people get generic nutrition programs that are too thorough and time-intensive. Make your nutrition planning simple and efficient for your needs. Make it realistic so you can actually follow it! 

2. Breakfast should be as simple as possible.

World-renowned trainer Charles Poliquin recommends the meat and nut breakfast, which is just what it sounds like — eating a handful of meat and nuts in the morning. It’s simple and fits into anyone’s lifestyle. This breakfast keeps your satiety high throughout the morning so you don’t feel the need to snack, and it gives you a lot of nutrition throughout the day. 

3. Try 90 seconds of squats before a big meal.

According to author Tim Ferriss, if you do 90 seconds of squats before a large meal, you can blunt your body’s insulin response, which promotes weight loss. He used a blood glucose monitor on himself, and found that 90 seconds was the minimum amount of exercise that would almost totally avoid the insulin spike and weight gain from a large meal. A little bit of exercise, especially before eating, goes a long way!  

You can view the IGTV video here.