Eating As Usual
One of the things I’ve been working on in my life, for years, is undoing the bad eating habits I learned in my childhood and early adulthood. I really had no concept of portion, calories, good or “bad” food. It has taken *years* of education, trial and error (still in progress) to educate myself about food, why and how I should eat a certain way, and learn how to implement that into my daily life.
I have said before, here and elsewhere, that I don’t like food labels, as far as vegetarian, pescatarian, vegan, omnivore, raw foodie, or whatever else there is out there because I think it sets us up for challenges by others if we don’t do it good enough. Meaning: if I claim to be vegan (I’m not) and I eat honey then some other non-honey eating vegan might come out of the woodwork to attack me as not being vegan enough. (I’ve seen this happen on other blogs). I don’t like the divisiveness created by labeling.
Here is what I do like: eating food. Yup. Food. Real food. 80-90% of the time.
This past weekend when my girlfriends were here fell in to the remaining 10% of the time. We ate quite a few different things (pizza, rice, cupcakes, other sweets) that are NOT a part of my daily diet. The food was delicious, the company was magnificent and I enjoyed both fully. But, this is not how I eat on a daily basis and if I want to continue my journey to health and living my life fully it is important to keep those items confined to a 10% ratio of what I eat.
This is not a diet. It’s life. If you want to be healthy and fit (which I do) then you have to eat healthy and act fit (exercise) most of the time. It is a difficult lesson to learn and, like I said, one that I still work on daily. I’m not perfect. But I never give up.
So, today I mentally and physically recommitted to my “eating as usual.” This meant that I didn’t have any coffee this morning, I had an apple and some cheese for an early lite breakfast. I exercised. I spent time prepping food for the week including some steamed broccoli, hard boiled eggs, turkey breakfast sausage and turkey Italian sausage, and a cucumber salad. I have lots of other fresh veggies and fruits ready to eat as well. Now lunches and dinners are one or two steps closer to being ready. I’ve said before and will say again: prep work is so important for my success. So, take an hour and cook a handful of things to have ready to grab and eat. It can save you!
I also made myself a big salad for lunch with fresh greens from my garden, tomato, peas from the garden, one of those cooked Italian sausages cut up and a couple cut up hard boiled eggs. Simple and delicious! Filling, too. I topped it with a tablespoon or two of a mustard dressing (grainy mustard mixed with a bit of plain yogurt). I’m drinking my water and plan to limit my wine intake to only a few days a week over the next few weeks.
This is what my eating as usual plan is like. This is how I need to eat and behave 80-90% of the time to succeed in my goals and to live the life I want to live.
I also have a plan for the next few weeks. I am once again following the FIRM Express workout plan and am utilizing (some) of their menu. I am kicking this off with the 4-Day Kick Start Plan.
Casa Beebe 