Monday, December 2, 2013

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 :)

1 comment:

  1. if you like lentils, try this one:
    http://www.girlsgonechild.net/2013/05/eat-well-lebanese-lentils.html
    we just made it two nights ago and both of us really liked it...owen probably would have too, but it wasn't ready in time for his dinner. enjoy! please share any lentil recipes you really like...i'm trying to cook with them more :)

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