I am also not a dietician or
food-a-tician or any kind of expert. I feel like, at this point in time, it’s
important to say that.
Also, this is maybe just two big pointers. I might give you more later.
1) Work Within Your Means.
Am I buying the organic apple or the
regular apple? Well, how much money do I have for food? Is the organic apple
what I want to spend extra money on? Do they have organic apples in the apple
type I like? I’m an apple snob in that I prefer Pink Lady apples, sooooo, it
probably won’t be organic.
I’m also not dead yet, so I don’t
think the non-organic apple is going to kill me.
The same applies to buying local
and fresh. Yes, totally buy local and fresh if you can afford to. Otherwise,
you buy what you can to survive and not starve. I do prefer fresh and frozen
over canned because #Sodium.
I’ve also been in the position
where my last $20 has to feed me for the rest of the week. In that case, it’s
totally a big pot of canned beans and saffron rice with some protein (cheese
and salsa if I have the money). It’s fairly cheap and lasts for days. Not the
most healthy, but filling. Thankfully, I haven’t been in that position in
awhile, but I can empathize with people who are. You do what you have to
survive.
2) Keep It Simple.
Eat some fruits (fresh or frozen)
or some veggies (fresh or frozen).
Eat a protein. Can be meat, but could also be protein powder, lentils, tofu, or edamame (to name a few).
Eat some form of fat. Peanut butter is my favorite, but I’ll eat avocado (sometimes). Nuts like almonds also work as a fat.
Eat a protein. Can be meat, but could also be protein powder, lentils, tofu, or edamame (to name a few).
Eat some form of fat. Peanut butter is my favorite, but I’ll eat avocado (sometimes). Nuts like almonds also work as a fat.
The picture, for reference, is Fage Greek Yogurt, frozen fruit with kale (I'm not sure I am excited about kale in my yogurt, but I'm working with it), almonds, and chia seeds.
Eat these every freakin’ meal.
I didn’t include carbs
specifically because lots of food already have carbs. Fruit – carb. Vegetables
– carb. Yogurt – Protein and carbs.
Once a day I have pasta, rice,
quiona, couscous or some other similar more of a carb type substance. I eat
mine at dinner, but you could eat it at lunch or breakfast.
I’M NOT TELLING YOU WHAT TO DO! You
can eat carbs every meal if you want!
Okay, the other morning I did put
2 TBSP of rolled oats in my breakfast smoothie.
CAUGHT ME RED HANDED!
If you try to incorporate fruit
and/or veggies, protein, and a (healthy) fat into every meal you’re pretty
close to being balanced and you won’t have to worry so much about are you
eating enough.. blah blah blah…
This is especially true the
simpler your foods are. I don’t have to worry about added sugar because they
don’t add sugar to fresh fruit. I buy frozen fruit that is just frozen fruit
(no added sugars). Same with vegetables. Yogurt – plain. If I need sugar
(because honestly, that Fage Greek Yogurt that has tons of protein is not the
yummiest stuff around), I add some of my own – usually maple syrup or honey.
Because YUM.
I season all of my plain stuff on
my own. That helps cut down on sodium and it’s not really hard. I just pick a
few spices.
YOU! Rosemary. Get in my food.
Dill. You too! Maybe some lemon. I just find combinations that work for me.
I try to use less oils for
cooking. I don’t use cooking spray – I go for Olive Oil and Coconut oil. I
switch it up. But if a recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil to cook the
meat, I might just think… I’m pretty sure I can cook this with 1. Oddly enough,
it comes out just fine.
As a parting thought – if you like
the butter, eat the butter. Just like the cake. Sometimes you get butter. But
when do I REALLY REALLY want butter? I want butter on bread or English muffins.
And on that really nice spicy pasta I sometimes get that doesn’t go with red
sauce. So I eat it those times.
Just not every day.
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