Tuesday, January 23, 2018

DAY 23-FULL PLATE

People who don't see me on an everyday basis sometimes question my food choices or even "IF" I eat! Something that's always cracked me up since I workout for a living and obviously need to keep up with my higher than the average person's nutritional needs.  Does this plate of food look like I don't eat?  This is my typical lunch. Today it consisted of a little tofu, a half of a huge leftover meatball I  made from pork. (oh gasp everyone who thinks they know me so well!) And the rest of the plate is filled with sauteed cauliflower, cabbage, peppers, some sauce from the meatball- and topped with some organic shredded mozz.  My daughter sheepishly said just the other day, "Ma, I've never seen anyone eat a bigger plate all at once!"  In all likelihood, I probably eat way more on a daily basis than anyone who's ever scrutinized me. Someone very close to me actually once suggested with such alarm in her voice, "OMG, you're skinnier than so & so!! I won't mention names but so & so starves herself and the few calories she does eat are burned off by hours on a treadmill or at least that's what she thinks. What's really happened is there's no more muscle so there's just skin and bones. And where an anorexic thinks they see fat and others think it's just in their head because they're sooooo skinny from not eating, they really do have a disproportionately high amount of fat due to the lack of muscle. So there's that too. Anyone can clearly see that is definitely NOT the case with me as there is a major difference between being skinny and being lean.  The person who was so alarmed by the way, hardly eats because she smokes, and contraindicative to that, spends about half her day at the gym doing multiple back to back classes and no she's not an instructor! Wow, sorry for going off on a rant! This really wasn't intended to be about me, lol!  Back on track. If you have weight to lose or to maintain, you do not have to and should not starve yourself! You can eat healthy AND delicious without depriving yourself and getting natural vitamins, minerals and fiber which is what you don't get when you eliminate entire food groups. Change your thinking.  When you think carbs, instead of swearing off all carbs think less starch, more vegetables (which ARE carbs by the way). Instead of pasta made from wheat, try buckwheat, a higher quality grain. Or pasta made from pea or chickpea flour for higher more satisfying protein without the inflammatory wheat starch.  It's the particular food choices within the food group categories that are making you fat, NOT CARBS themselves! And NOT FAT! If you're choosing saturated fats like loads of butter over olive or coconut oil then yeah, you might want to calm it down. But again, it's the type of fats you choose. I eat butter too. Only mine is Ghee (clarified, organic butter) Fat itself, the mostly unsaturated kind (think nut butters, avacado, olive oil) is actually good for you and has a very important place in your daily needs in moderation. So eat!  Think about it. Write it down. Plan it out. And just make healthier choices on a regular basis.  Oh, and if you're curious about how much I eat for breakfast, stay tuned...😏

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