I heart food

I thought it would be fun to share some of my eating habits/tips. I very often get asked what I eat on a day to day basis, and even had someone ask me before to write out an example plan of what I eat on a good day. I am not an expert in any of this, and I never went to school for health beyond taking a health and nutrition class in college. I'm just a stay at home mom trying to be the healthiest me, by staying active and giving my body the nutrition it needs to function the way it was created to.

Before I go on to share my healthy food favs, I want to talk about something that has really helped me view food in a different way. It kinda goes along with that last sentence in the previous paragraph - "giving my body the nutrition it needs to function the way it was created to". Key word: CREATED. A lot of my blogs are written from the perspective of me being a believer in God. Since I've been more into healthy living I've realized that a lot of creation is actually Gods way of feeding us. Our bodies were not created to eat boxed cereal, soda, or really half the things we eat on a daily basis. That's not to say I don't eat any of that or that I'm saying you shouldn't... that would be a little intense haha. My point is more that when we reference nature more often for the foods we eat, our bodies are going to feel and function better. This is because our bodies and those foods all have the same creator! How amazing is that?! I'm not saying to be some crazy person who won't eat anything unless it came from a tree or grew from the ground haha.. I'm simply saying to add MORE of those foods to your diet. The more you fill your diet with REAL foods, the less room there will be for processed man made foods!

My "eating plan" is based on eating 5 times a day. I learned from being on the Tone It Up nutrition plan that it's better to eat 5 smaller meals a day than the typical 3. When I started doing this I noticed that I was less apt to over eat since I had just eaten 2 or 3 hours before. You shouldn't be waiting until you're starving to eat! If you're eating every 5 hours, your body's metabolism doesn't need to work as hard to process the food. But giving your body good healthy foods every 2 to 3 hours all day forces your metabolism to work harder and more often. So if you want a faster metabolism, consider eating a healthy snack in between breakfast/lunch and lunch/dinner. So anyway.. here we go! I will list a few examples of things I eat for every meal : )

MY FAVORITE HEALTHY FOOD FAVS:

M1 & M2 options:
⁃ Literally any kind of FRESH fruit! My go to quick fruit in the morning is a banana.
⁃ Perfect for M2: an apple - if you have time slice the apple and toss it in lemon juice and cinnamon! I'm obsessed!!!
⁃ Slice of Ezekiel toast with peanut butter and sliced bananas on top.
⁃ Eggs scrambled made with almond milk. I like to add veggies too if I have time to chop, or if I meal prepped veggies the night before! My favorites to do are peppers, onions, tomatoes, asparagus, and spinach.
⁃ Smoothie: FREEZE bananas! Blend almond milk, bananas, and your favorite protein powder together. (This is my breakfast if I workout first thing in the morning)
⁃ Greek yogurt w/blueberries

M3 (lunch):
⁃ Greens, fresh veggies (I love peppers, cucumbers, onions), and grilled chicken. Dressing is balsamic vinegar and lemon squeeze.
⁃ Turkey sandwich w/ mustard. I use whole wheat bread or with lettuce on a wrap.
⁃ Pre made turkey chili (I'll make a big batch Sunday for the week!)
⁃ Honestly.. sometimes I just have a peanut butter sandwich! HA!

M4:
⁃ Veggies and hummus (peppers, cucumbers, or carrots)
⁃ Raw almonds

M5:
⁃ Pasta sauce made with ground turkey over spaghetti squash or zoodles. I DO eat pasta! Haha... I just try not to go over board with carbs. A lot of the time I'll mix normal pasta with the spaghetti squash (which btw is very filling!!!!)
⁃ Fajitas: I do chicken, peppers, onions, salsa, leaves of fresh cilantro, plain geeek yogurt (as a sour cream substitute), and a squeeze of a lime. Sometimes I ditch the wraps and put that all over some greens and make it a fajita salad!
⁃ Turkey chili
⁃ Turkey burgers and sweet potato fries
⁃ Chicken, cumin, chili powder, salsa, corn, and black beans all in the crock pot. Shred the chicken once it's cooked and serve mixture over quinoa, brown rice, greens as a salad, or even on its own!

DRINKS: (and guilty pleasures haha)

⁃ I do not drink soda! Like ever. I don't really love it, and it's just something that I've made a personal choice to not ever buy or drink. Of course like once or twice a year I will have some sort of holiday drink at a party with ginger ale or something like that in it. But it is rare! Same with juice - orange juice very rarely OR a fresh juice from a place that makes them (I totally have a juicer that I should use more often though!)
⁃ I'm addicted to coffee and drink typically 3 (sometimes 4 yikes haha) cups a day. If I knew I wouldn't like have a heart attack or something by drinking more I probably would hahaha. BUT I do not put sugar or cream in it. Of course when I go to dunkins or starbucks I will sometimes get a flavor in it. But at home I put solely unsweetened almond milk in it.
⁃ I drink at least 72 oz. of water everyday. A lot of times I will make a pitcher of lemon lime water and drink it all week.
⁃ I have a cup of green tea almost everyday! I put nothing in my tea.
⁃ So I love wine haha.. and I do drink it 2-3 (sometimes 4) times a week! I love wine enough that it's worth indulging in to me. I don't really eat sweets or candy very often, so wine is my treat that I have often and I just don't care.
⁃ However.... my guilty pleasure candy is skittles!!!! I will eat them at the movies with my popcorn and I can't resist them if I see them haha (which thankfully is very rarely)
⁃ I also LOVE dark chocolate. Typically 1-2 times a week I will have some dark chocolate with my wine : )

So there you have it! All my eating choices and habits. Of course I also eat things like pizza, Chinese food, and ice cream! Haha! Who doesn't??? I heart food. But I try and live by the 80/20 rule. If I eat relatively healthy 80% of the time, I don't care about eating not so healthy on special occasions or the weekends. It doesn't effect my weight or overall health! Because remember.. eating one unhealthy meal does not make you unhealthy, just as eating one healthy meal does not make you healthy! It's all about consistency, balance, and everything in moderation. I don't believe in the terms "cheat days" or "cheat meals". You're not cheating. Never feel guilty, just know your limits. Enjoy life and enjoy food : )