I Just Want to Be Normal!

Recently there has been a bit of speculation about what/how I eat. I think people see a picture of a salad I'm having for lunch (because, yes, I'm a bit obsessed with photographing food), and assume that means I'm not "eating carbs" or that I am on the Paleo diet. I've even had people tell me what my diet must be, without ever asking me directly what I eat. So here it is. I'm just going to lay it all out there for ya.

**Please recognize that this is the way I choose to eat. I am not saying that what is right for me, is right for everyone.

First off, I eat 5-6 times a day. I've been told by multiple RDs, nutritionists, and/or health buffs that people are built to eat every 3 hours or so. As soon as I started to not feel guilty about the obvious hunger I was feeling between meals and began preparing myself healthy, nutritious snacks, my overeating at mealtime took care of itself and I didn't walk around like a crazy lady all hungry and grouchy all the time. I'm a pretty routine person and my eating schedule looks something like this:

6:00am- Breakfast

9:00am- Snack

12:00pm- Lunch

3:00pm-Snack
6:00- Dinner

8:00pm- Snack

While this is definitely subject to change, this is more or less when I eat every day. No really, my stomach tells me when snack time is coming. (Does this make me like Pavlov's dogs?)

Right now, I try and eat foods that give me more bang for my buck. Meaning, I eat foods that have fiber, protein, or a meal that combines the two. It's scientifically proven that foods that have a lot of nutrients but fewer calories help us lose weight - and mother nature went ahead and took care of what that entails.

So, "what" do I eat? First and foremost, I eat fruits and veggies. I pretty much have at least a fruit or veggie in every meal/snack I eat. The only exception is when I am on the run and have a snack of just nuts. I love a colorful plate, and the color is mostly from nutritious, fiber-rich fruits and veggies.

I eat lean meats like turkey, chicken breast, and lean cuts of pork. Love fish, although avoid high mercury seafood like swordfish. I don't avoid red meat, but I'd say I have it about 1-2 times a month and really watch portions. I don't eat bacon or cured meats. There are a lot of people who speak up for bacon, but my thinking is if it's a red meat that is more than half fat and often processed, I can find a better option.

I love me some beans. You can probably tell, considering they have ended up in just about every recipe on here. Currently, I have a fondness for lentils (droooooool). And I don't think a day passes that I don't eat nuts.

Bread, wraps, english muffins, tortillas are all okay in my book, I just buy "whole grain" and try to find options with few ingredients, or in the very least, ingredients that I can pronounce. I am at a point where white flour products don't even taste good to me, so sticking to whole grain isn't really a challenge. I am trying to "expand my repertoire" a bit in the whole grain department. Quinoa, oats, [enter popular grain here] I eat all the time, but am yet to try a bulgar recipe (NRM?).

When possible, I buy organic. I feel most strongly about buying organic when it comes to produce, milk, and meat. But overall, this household buys mostly organic. To me, organic even tastes better. And while I used to think that the lowest fat was the only option, I'm learning now that natural fats are things our body needs, it's the factory-produced fats to be really weary of. This leads me to...

Processed foods. I would say that I try to keep processed foods to a minimum. The more I learn, the easier it is getting to identify over-processed, and seek out more natural options. But I am still learning. Artificial sweetener was one of the hardest additives to drop. The very last habit being Diet Coke, which started from a young age. Once I rid my body of artificial sweetener, I truly started feeling good. Once in awhile, I'll steal a sip, and I can't believe how "chemically" it tastes to me. I drank it for so long- weird.

And now the big finale, ready?! I'm not perfect! And guess what?! I don't want to be! I just want to be normal.  I want a normal relationship with food. I will never say something is completely off limits (yes, even bacon) because as soon as I do, it's all I want. Instead, I try to eat a wide variety of healthy, delicious foods MOST of the time. I do a great job of eating healthy, but eating is a social thing and we don't have 100% control all of the time. So instead of feeling guilty, I try and choose the best option available and allow myself to indulge here and there. As soon as I let go of the guilt- guilt over snacking, guilt over having chocolate at a party, guilt over anything pertaining to food, really- THAT'S when change happened... and I have never felt better.

I just want to be normal when it comes to food, and I wish you all normalcy, as well.

Please feel free to leave me a message, if you have questions. 

UPDATE: I realized after I posted this I left out eggs! I love me some eggs. Especially, organic brown eggs. I don't go overboard, though, and stick to 1 whole egg a day or 2 at most. This is only based on the information given from a R.D. I heard speak at a conference- egg yolks are power-packed of nutrients, but can be a little high in fat. Egg whites are wonderful, though, and don't need the same reservations as yolks. Eat eggs :)