A remarkable amount of people have been asking me, "What am I supposed to eat?". Today, while I was grocery shopping a woman stopped me and started studying my cart. I knew that it was time that I kind of give an introductory lesson on how you should nourish your body. I'm gonna give you everything and why so let's get started:
Meats: I don't eat a lot of animal meats but I am a heavy seafood eater and I love poultry. I get my protein and essential oils and fatty acids from salmon and chicken. That is chicken that has not been battered or deep fried. I can teach you a billion ways to prepare these things. Some other stuff that I might not have added in this shopping trip is turkey or chicken sausage (love) and turkey burgers. They make some pretty good pre-made ones that I could kill for. A little tidbit about salmon too is that it is good for the skin. It's what give J-Lo that glow that she's kind of infamous for. Remember, the skin is a prime reflection of what's being put inside of the body.
Dairy: Avoid fat as much as possible when you go to find your dairy fix. It took a while, but I've gotten to the point where I can have 0% Fat milk and be completely fine. I would suggest at least going to 2%. I just feel like it's heavily unnecessary to intake fats from your dairy isle. I think the importance of dairy is to get that Vitamin D. Dairy products will still be fortified with Vitamin D even if its lacking of fat. Too many people neglect the amount of calories, sugars, and fats that they drink. I got some plain non-fat yogurt that I like to do for breakfast with a bit of granola or fresh-cut fruit. The milk, I just love milk and enjoy it's benefits. Same fat idea with the cheese, I typically go for mozzarella that was made part skim and part 2% milk. It still melts the same and doesn't hurt your cholesterol levels or fat intake.
Veggies: These may not be my dearest part of my eating profile but it's more than necessary. There are too many health benefits to be had by eating your leafy greens and other veggies. I'm talking vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, anticarcinogens, and a plethora of everything else. I truly believe that my lack of getting sick is tied to consistent exercise and this integral part of my everyday diet. Sometimes it is hard for me to eat these by chewing so I just blend it up into an amazing smoothie and end up eating two or three servings of vegetables in one cup. That is the way to go! If you want smoothie advice I'm here. My favorites are kale (of course), spinach, carrots, and romaine lettuce. I also love potatoes, onions, butternut squash, and turnip bottoms that make a great stew or couscous.
FRUITS: Anybody who knows me knows that this is my favorite thing in all the land. I don't think I've met a fruit that I did not like. With that said, these are where I get my sugars. I don't drink sodas and I avoid traditional desserts as much as possible and instead try to morph my fruits into my after-meal snack or my dessert. In this picture alone, I throw dried cranberries into my yogurt to add some sweetness with a bit of tart and I eat bananas like there is no tomorrow because if you know anything about how muscle contraction works there is a sodium-potassium pump and with my workouts I HAVE to intake potassium from somewhere. I typically eat pears as a "walking" snack, I might have a grapefruit or a half of a grapefruit for breakfast with toast or yogurt (there was a study done that showed that the scent of grapefruit encourages weight loss ;) incentive),I can eat pineapples and mangos in yogurt as well or I throw them in the blender to make a smoothie. Avocados are an amazing source of healthy fats that the body need. When you intake healthier fats your body is less likely to store fat and use the calories as energy! These are healthy, natural sugars so I say just watch your consumption and enjoy this part because it's awesome.
Beans/Grains/Cereals: This is supposed to be the largest part of your diet and I try but sometimes it's hard. I'm not a huge carbohydrate eater since I've kind fallen a bit slack with bread BUT whole grain wheat bread is the way to go or Udi's gluten free bread but I know many that might even say to cut it out. Some things that I love that aren't pictured here today are quinoa (powerhouse food), couscous, brown rice, basmati rice, and pastas (they do make whole grain ones). Here, I decided that I wanted to have a bunch of salads that would be full of chickpeas and black beans. I can easily get my carbs from here. I LOVE ALMONDS. These 100 calorie packs have me addicted. They have like 7 grams of sugar per pack and obviously are only 100 calories. That leads me to note that the idea of eating is to not exactly focus just on the calorie number and the calories of something like an almond is way better for you than a teaspoon of something like macaroni and cheese that may be the same amount of calories. I call it "quality of calorie". Shown here is also my granola that I can just grab a handful or throw in yogurt or eat as a cereal with the no fat milk.
Sugars: I'm going with truvia as it is a natural 0 calorie sweetener. Those artificial sweeteners (sweet n low and whatever the other one is called) is CRAP. THROW THEM AWAY. They are bad for your heart and they also make you crave more natural sugar. Try anything that says raw on it as opposed to those. In your diet, white is not always right but this is something you can trust. I can put this in some tea or whatever else and you can even back with this stuff. The cool part is, is that it takes less of this compared to granulated white sugar to offer you the same sweetness.
BONUS POINTS: Sugars are processed into fat and you can bet that they head directly to one region, the greater omentum. What's the greater omentum you ask? Well, we have two. We have the lesser and the greater. The lesser omentum sits at the lesser curvature of the stomach and the greater omentum hangs from the greater curvature of the stomach. Anatomically, the stomach is shaped like a kidney bean and the lesser curvature is basically the smaller "c" of the bean and the greater curvature resembles the larger "C" of the bean. Your belly fat is that greater omentum. So, if you avoid sugars you're going to be cutting a lot of the fat that goes straight to that gut!
Homework 1. Build a positive relationship with your food. You won't succeed until you stop abusing your food or abusing your body with food. You have to realize that the purpose is to survive and supply your body with nutrients. The body does not crave flavors, or calories that's all psycho-somatic it actually craves nutrients.
2. Be a responsible eater. Stop excusing yourself to eat poorly because you cut calories somewhere, skipped a meal, or worked out. THAT PISSES ME OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you eat right, which also includes eating constant enough to keep your metabolism high and to fuel you through a workout you won't need to make excuses for missing meals. Also, If you are working out the purpose is to burn more calories than you take in to lose!! If you eat poorly it is like the same as not having worked out at all or doing considerably less work. STOP MAKING EXCUSES, STOP BEING WEAK, AND GET RESPOSNSIBLE.
3. Get your sleep. work outs and healthy eating without proper rest is dead. Sleep is the body's natural healing center. Do not oversleep either. Hit the ground running; my philosophy is that while you're sleeping someone else is taking your spot in something that you want whether its a job, an interview, an acting role, a rehearsal, a promotion, whatever don't let people sleep on you by sleeping in.
Happy living peeps ;)