Simple, Healthy Eating

Many people have asked me how I manage to eat so healthy or to give them ideas for meals or help them with a weekly shopping list. I thought a post sharing some tips and tricks might answer some questions or help to inspire other people who maybe aren't sure where to begin (you can read more about how I eat in this post).

Keep it simple. I used to go totally overboard planning these elaborate dinners to make during the week. But then when I got home from work, errands, the gym... the last thing I wanted to do was start cooking up a storm. It's just not realistic for my lifestyle and probably not for yours either. Most of us are running around like crazy from one place to another. If you keep it simple you'll have no excuse not do it. I think a lot of people feel that cooking takes too long and they don't want to deal with all the hassle so it's easier just to stop and pick something up. I totally get that and there are definitely nights when I do that as well, but keeping items on hand that I know I can throw together for a quick and healthy meal has really eliminated a lot of eating out. And I feel healthier for it.

Plan ahead. Make a list before you go and organize it by location in the store. This makes food shopping a breeze. Think about what meals you want to make during the week. I don't sit there and plan every single day out but I make sure to have about 3-4 dinners planned ahead and then a couple of easy extra items. For example, I might plan to make a chicken stir fry, taco salad, and sausage and peppers as my weeknight meals. But then I'll throw in some hotdogs (Applegate, free of nitrates, antibiotics and other garbage) or an extra package of ground beef or turkey to have on hand just in case. These are items that can be made in less than 10 minutes if I have a night that I get home extra late, which is usually about once a week if I go to a late yoga class. Just knowing that I have something at home I can make that quick will prevent me from stopping somewhere.

Normally I will plan a lunch for the week that I can make ahead on Sunday and will last me and Greg 2-3 days (chili, ground turkey and a vegetable, soup, etc). The rest of the days will be leftovers from the night before.

Breakfast is easy- most days we eat eggs, sweet potato and avocado. Sometimes we throw a vegetable in with the eggs. Some days we make a green juice with whatever we have on hand. About once a week we will have gluten-free oatmeal just to switch it up.

Snacks are nuts, seeds, fresh and dried fruit, and Lara bars.

I normally go food shopping at Trader Joe's. They have a great selection of meats that are free of antibiotics, gluten, casein, nitrates, additives, etc. as well as organic fruits and vegs. I find that the smaller footprint of the store makes it easier to shop. As I mentioned in the linked post above I do get certain items at other places (Target, Home Goods, Amazon, etc) but I probably do about 80% of my shopping at TJ's. Here's an example of a typical shopping list:

Fruits/Vegs: Bananas, Avocado, Apples, Berries, Pineapple, Spinach, Sweet Potatoes, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Snow Peas, Mushrooms, Peppers, Tomato, Lemons
Meat: Chicken breasts, Ground Beef, Ground Turkey, Sausage, Hotdogs
Dairy/Refrigerated: Eggs, Coconut Milk, Shredded Cheese
Pantry: Cashew or Almond Butter, Walnuts, Dried Apricots, Raisins, Sauerkraut, Tomato Sauce, Diced Canned Tomatoes, Canned Coconut Milk, Gluten-free Oatmeal

Meal prep is so important. We normally do this on Sunday, but choose whatever day works best with your schedule. As discussed above, nobody has time to be prepping and getting all fancy when they get home from work. Meal prep is a huge time saver for the week to come. A normal Sunday meal prep for us goes like this:
-Sweet potatoes- either baked in the oven with coconut oil or seasoned hash browns in a skillet
-Vegetables- cutting and prepping anything needed for breakfast/lunch/dinner. This could be broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, peppers, etc. Depending what we want to use it for we will either cook it or just chop and store for later use
-Lunch for the week- lately this has been a big pot of chili or soup, could also be cooking ground beef/turkey/chicken in a skillet with a vegetable to go with it or cutting up chicken breasts (seasoned and cooked in a skillet)
-A big pot of rice is also made- Greg has incorporated white rice back into his diet due to the frequency and intensity of his workouts. He needs to consume something that will be burned off easily and give him energy. I sometimes include a small portion of rice with certain meals

And that's it. All you need is 1-2 hours and I promise you, this will set you up for success for the whole week.

Coming soon I will post specific meal ideas and recipes for breakfast/lunch/dinner as well as products that I love. If you would like help with meal planning and recipes ideas please contact me for details.
Happy Sunday!

Green Drinks

Anyone who follows me on Instagram knows I am pretty obsessed with the NutriBullet. It is definitely one my favorite items in the kitchen and a ‘green drink’ has quickly become part of our morning breakfast routine. I also love to enjoy something fruity and refreshing after a sweat inducing hot yoga session.  I use whatever fruit we have on hand that week and I try to mix it up as much as possible to keep it interesting.

For breakfast I almost always use spinach as my ‘green’ but occasionally I will break it up with kale or mixed greens such as collards, dandelion, etc. I find spinach to be the least offensive. Unless you really like the taste of the more unique options I think they can make the drink taste bitter. The spinach is fairly mild and takes on the flavor of whatever fruit is included. If you are new to green drinks I would recommend adding an apple or banana as they overpower almost anything you put in there. From there you can move on and become more adventurous. Sometimes when I am sick of spinach I will use carrot or cucumber as my base so that I am still getting a veggie into the mix.

I really don’t have any set recipes since I tend to use different items each week but I will share some of my favorites. As far as ingredients, it’s really whatever you like. Have fun with it. Picking the ingredients is the best part! And it is a great opportunity to incorporate fruits and veggies that you might not otherwise be getting in your diet.  I would recommend using at least one veggie and then adding 2-4 fruits. For the liquid I use water, almond milk, coconut milk, coconut water or any combination of the four.  Summer is really an amazing time to start doing this because there are so many delicious fruits and veggies at your disposal. 

  Spinach I Carrot I Blackberry

 Spinach I Apricot I Banana I Blueberry

Cucumber I Carrot I Raspberry I Pineapple 

Carrot I Pineapple I Cherry
 

After yoga or a workout I like to enjoy something made just with fruit. Especially after hot yoga, it really helps to cool me down. My current obsession is cantaloupe, pineapple and grapefruit with half coconut water/half coconut milk. So refreshing. These types of smoothies can make a great late night treat as well. I wouldn’t say it’s an exact substitute for Ben and Jerry’s but it definitely helps curb the craving. If you want something more ‘chocolatey desserty' I would recommend blending organic chocolate milk with a banana and almond butter or you can substitute almond milk and a scoop of chocolate protein powder instead of chocolate milk.  

 Kiwi I Grapefruit I Peach

 Cantaloupe I Blueberry

Some other favorites:

-Kale I Mango I Banana I Apple

-Spinach I Nectarine I Strawberry I Orange

-Cucumber I Peach I Pear

-Spinach I Plum I Pineapple I Grape

Enjoy! 

How I eat

A year and half ago I set out to experiment eating Paleo, you can read about that here. I was definitely skeptical going in to it but had read enough about it that I was intrigued to see if all the hype was really true.  This all came about after a few months of doing CrossFit. It’s hard to do CrossFit without coming across people who are laying claim that this is the best and only way to eat. I had some serious doubts about a diet that did not involve cheese and pasta as I stated at the outset.

Right off the bat I went all in and dragged Greg along with me. We eliminated everything that wasn’t Paleo- no dairy, no grains/wheat/bread/pasta, etc, no sugar, no processed foods.  Was it hard? Yeah, sometimes.  But it wasn’t nearly as tough as I thought it was going to be. Of course there were times we cheated but we were pretty strict in the beginning, even drinking ciders instead of beer.

In general I really don’t believe in diets. I think that if you eat real food most of the time you should be ok.  Just don’t eat crap. This was one of the big draws of Paleo for me.  I had believed for a long time that putting processed and junk food into your body was not the way to go so this really became the element that I latched on to. 

Probably the best diet advice I’ve ever read.  So simple, right?

6 months or so in Greg and I were having a tough time not having any sort of grain or starch to fill our bellies. There is only so much broccoli and spinach you can eat. At that point we started to reintroduce white rice and white potatoes.  From our own research it seemed these were the best options as they are very easily digestible and don’t disrupt your system the way whole grains can. I know what you’re thinking. This goes against everything you’ve been taught- that you should always eat brown rice over white rice. I totally get it because I thought the same way for a long time. I think it’s something you need to research on your own and observe how you feel after eating each one. Then you can decide what is right for you. That is the thing about diet. What is right for one person isn’t right for another.  I certainly don’t claim to have all the answers.  I really try not to inflict my own eating beliefs upon people but I do like to share what I have learned so that maybe they can make more informed decisions or be inspired to find out what works for them.  Greg tends to eat more rice because he CrossFits like crazy and he needs the extra calories. Lately I have been cutting back on rice and starches because I have found that I feel better without them. So it’s really what works for each person.

After all this time I think Greg and I have obtained a nice middle ground that definitely skews more Paleo.  Many items have been replaced that I don’t even give a second thought to now--Almond or Coconut Milk instead of cow’s Milk, Almond Butter instead of Peanut Butter, Coconut, Walnut, Avocado Oil instead of Olive Oil (for cooking). For me the key to maintaining healthy eating has been to keep it simple. A majority of the time I have to cook because it is really difficult to get healthy food from an outside source, especially something quick and cheap. The problem is that as much as I enjoy cooking I really don’t have a lot of time to devote to it. During the week I normally start cooking dinner around 8:30 by the time I get home from work and get my workout in. There are no gourmet meals being made at this time of night. Not when I have to get up at 6am the next day and do it all over again. Over the past year I have devised ways to be as efficient as possible and that has really enabled me to successfully maintain this lifestyle. I go food shopping once a week on Saturday or Sunday. I basically buy the same or similar items every week. This makes food shopping really easy and quick. My best advice for starting out would be to make a list and group like items together. I list all of my fruit and produce together, all of my meat and poultry, and then eggs, milk, etc. These items are all located on the perimeter of the store so all I have to do is make one big loop and I’m done. I start in produce and end in dairy. Easy peasy.  Sometimes I might have to venture to the middle aisles if I need almond butter, rice, sauce, oil, etc. but I normally stock up on these items and only buy them every so often. I also tend to buy non-perishables such as these at different locations other than the normal food store. For example- I order organic rice online in bulk from Amazon.com and special oils (walnut, coconut, etc) I get from Home Goods because for whatever reason they have them for about half the price that Whole Foods does.

I think in the end we have both stayed with this way of eating because we just feel better. I never have that sick full feeling after eating a meal. I find that my energy levels are more even keeled. I sleep better. I’m not hungry all the time. I eat when I want to eat.  It doesn’t even feel like a diet, it feels totally natural. And of course I indulge from time to time but I try to make them worthwhile indulgences- for example flourless chocolate cake at my favorite restaurant versus bakery cake at a party that I don’t even enjoy.  Most of my “cheats” are when we go out to dinner.  I consider going out to dinner an experience and I love to enjoy something delicious. It makes it that much more special. I don’t ever feel like I am depriving myself and I think that is crucial. 

Going Paleo

In January I wrote that one of my “intentions” for the year was to try eating Paleo for 1 month.  I certainly have not followed through with all of my intentions but with this one,  I actually have…surprising to me as I know my outlook towards this idea back in January was that it was crazy. Life without cheese? No way. 

At the end of January we were finally in a place where our kitchen was functional- ie: we had a stove again- so we figured it was as good a time as any to jump right in. No grains, no dairy, here we go. I passed on some of the research I had found to Greg and he was willing to try it with me. I don’t think it would have worked otherwise because let’s face it- I can barely manage to make one meal, let alone two. At this point Greg didn’t have much of a choice to join in on the fun if he wanted to eat.  Little did I know he would end up going all in on this way of life.

I probably didn’t go into it with the right attitude- I thought it would be next to impossible to give up these things that are staples for most people- me included. But after reading all that I had even I had to admit that there was something to this. At least enough to try it out and see what happened.  Even so, I found it surprisingly easy to give up rice, pasta, cheese, milk... I actually had the toughest time giving up Greek yogurt but that pretty much passed after the first couple weeks.

I’m not going to get into all the specifics of why this way of eating is considered to be the “right” way- you can certainly Google “Paleo” and find loads of information on it. I also don’t believe that anyone should impose their form of nutrition on anyone else- although I do encourage everyone to research it on their own. I believe that each person has to come to their own decision. What’s right for one person may not be right for another. 

So am I eating 100% Paleo 100% of the time? No. I am a firm believer that you should never deprive yourself of things you love- however, everything in moderation. I thought I would end up around the 80/20 mark but I'm actually more around 95/5 right now. 

  I also don’t believe there is only one right way of eating. There are a lot of “hardcore” Paleo people out there and that’s cool for them but I am not all aboard the Paleo train just yet. I am still questioning many of the ideas behind it and continuing to research- because for every argument there is a counter-argument- and I believe one of the most important decisions you can make for yourself everyday is what food goes into your body. 

We are coming up on our 3 month mark of starting this way of eating and overall I feel really good about it. Even when I treat myself to banana bread, pancakes, muffins- all the "Paleo way" of course- I don't have that feeling of regret that can sometimes happen when indulging. And it's actually really fun to experiment with all these new recipes- it's made me remember why I love cooking so much.