You are What You Eat!

Many of you wonder what it is that I eat? Let me say I DO NOT plan meals ahead. I Don't have meals plans I eat "normal" food just prepare it differently and do it in moderation. I am the type of person who is when dedicated to something I hold fast to it. So, a lot of this is determination and will for me. I hope though what I do practice can assist you in more ways than one. Remember in my last blog I stated that I began portion control with a little green plate, here it is below. I don't use it anymore because I've trained myself to be more aware of how much I'm putting on my plate. You may want to try this as you begin your lifestyle change.

Let me go on record again saying I AM NOT a licensed/certified nutritionist/dietitian. These are ONLY changes I have made to MY lifestyle.
 First, don't look at this as a Diet. Diets in my opinion are fads, they quickly come and go! This is a LIFESTYLE CHANGE. You literally are what you eat! You fill your body with unhealthy junk your going to feel crappy and sleepy and emotional and mean and whatever emotion there is to feel.

First off, GET RID OF THE SWEETS! Yes, I mean the Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies, the Ho-Ho's, the ice cream, and the sugar.  Sugar naturally is your friend and is good for you and those are found in Fresh fruits like grapes and apples. High Fructose Sugar is your enemy! I encourage you to do your research on it don't just take my word for it! It is man made and so,so bad for you. STAY AWAY from high fructose sugar. Read your label ingredients if it has anything that ends in a "tose" don't even buy it. That is just the industries way of trying to trick you because HFS has gone public. If your like most people sweets are your downfall. Here is your pick me up, remove the sweets and replace it with fresh fruit! When you want that sweet taste the fruit has it naturally. My fruits of choice are: blueberries,strawberries,bananas,kiwi,blackberries,apples;Gala apples I've found are always sweet. Where red delicious apples can be a hit or miss.Other favorites include: raisins, mandarin oranges, pineapples and cantaloupe and pears. Yes, I do buy fruit in the can but NOT in heavy syrup!
 
Surprisingly, High Fructose syrup is even in the wheat and white bread we eat! Again, read your labels if it has it in there don't eat it.  I'm not promoting any brands (God knows I'm not getting paid for it ) but I eat the 100% Whole Wheat bread with no high fructose syrup brand of Brownberry( about $3 a loaf) or Arthur 100% Whole Wheat bread.(about $2.48 a loaf) .Both can be found at Wal-Mart or Krogers.They taste really good. Now, some will tell you to "Don't eat bread" but if you READ your food chart you need it unless you have issues with yeast products, in which there are other ways to get what you need. Since I'm not licensed on that I'll let you do the research or speak with your doctor on that. The key is to do EVERYTHING in moderation! Don't just take on the mentality that,"It's 100% wheat bread and no HFS that I can have eight slices and be OK) that IS NOT what I'm telling you! Myself I limit it to two pieces a day. That's enough for a sandwich. Another change I have made is to replace fixing white rice with brown rice. Yes, it has a different taste and a little different to cook but it's GOOD and GOOD for you! I'm going to step on out here and say this," If it's natural state is brown its good." You can still make chicken and rice, just eat brown rice and bake or boil your chicken. I even make stir fry and use brown rice as my base.

Another thing I do is since I make a conscious habit to workout at least six days a week I eat six meals a day. Yes, Six! They are small meals and snacks through out the day so that my stomach is NEVER empty. That roughly evens out to every 2-4hours. When you get totally empty that's when you reach for the bad stuff. I normally eat a piece of fruit on my way to work at 5:30am. Then, at my 8am break I eat cereal with 2%milk, honestly not a fan of skim milk(which is better for you). Although, almond milk or rice milk I will eat when I can afford it! As your know eating healthy can be costly so I make adjustments according to my wallet! With the cereals I also don't buy anything with the "tose" in it! Normally I pick up these brands. I purchase these at ALDI grocery store for around $1.49 a box. Now with the Granola I LOVE to add raisins to it. At 11am I am eating lunch( mind you I go in to work REALLY early). This meal is usually pretty big for me and is typically leftovers from dinner last night and I top it off with a fruit mix (that I cut up of blueberries, strawberries,blackberries,bananas and kiwi) or I eat a Greek yogurt. Between 1-2:30pm I eat another piece of fruit and then dinner and then another snack of fruit or yogurt.

I purchase these at ALDI for .89cent each

PLEASE don't get me wrong I DO have those craving for sweets and I DO eat them when the craving comes. Here is the thing, once you STOP eating them on a regular bases you begin to want the GOOD stuff as a sweet and every now and then you want ice cream or M&M's and I say eat it when you want it and leave it alone. It's when you attempt to ignore those cravings that you OVER EAT them when you do get it. You will soon realize the artificial stuff doesn't taste all that hot anymore. You begin to just want to, "hit it and quit it" if you will (lol)! I have a friend that comes over and looks in my fridge and ask EVERY time," what you got good to eat?" and my reply is, "nothing you going to eat." and their reply is "Got that right you only got healthy stuff." and sighs and closes the door. It tickles me every time. So start with these little changes and see how that works for you!