The Skinny on my Nom-noms

I think I read somewhere once that losing weight is 80% what's in your kitchen (what of you put in to your body), and 20% exercise (don't quote me on that) but I remember being surprised by the statistic.  It makes sense though, and here is why.  You can spend hours in the gym, but if you are coming home and eating 2 candy bars and a bag of chips, or 1000 calories in pizza for dinner, or slamming down cases of Dr, Pepper, your work at the gym was for naught.  Unless you are an olympic athlete needing 6,000 - 10,000 calories a day, you aren't doing yourself any favors by working out hard, and then eating sugar, carbs, and high calorie, low-nutrition food.

Real food is fun and delicious!  I am posting some pics of my meals for you so you can see that meals can still be yummy, beautiful and appetizing without all the carbs, fat and sodium that we have become accustomed to in our society.

greens with cranberries, feta, and honey lemon vinagrette

When I have lost weight in the past, or when others around me have lost weight, people always ask the same question.  "HOW did you do it?!!" Like there is some magical potion, or new miracle discovery that caused the weight loss.  Yes, there are crazy crash diets, there are even pills that claim to rev up our metabolism, or even scare you in to not eating by causing you to have diarrhea if you do (um, no thanks).  But let's be honest with ourselves, the only way to lose weight the right way is to eat less junk and more nutritionally dense food and exercise more.  The hard part for most is that they are addicted to sugar.  Sugar is EVIL.  It should be considered a drug, because it is THAT addictive, and it is THAT harmful to our bodies.  It seriously wreaks havoc on our blood sugars, our insulin levels, our hormones, pretty much everything.  It is why obesity is now an epidemic, we are surrounded by sugar everywhere we go.  Hundreds of years ago, it was harder to come by.  Our bodies are not meant to consume as much sugar as we do!!  Sometimes harmful sugar lurks in places we don't even think about.  We don't think about it while we are eating our spaghetti dinner, or eating that croissant for breakfast, or even in some of the canned soup we eat, or the ketchup we put on our hamburgers.  We have to become more aware as a society of the dangers of sugar when it comes to our health and well being.  I think we have come a long way compared to 5- 10 years ago, but so many are still in the dark - or they were like me, they know better but choose to ignore their knowledge.  For years and years I have known the dangers of sugar, I have done low carb diets and lost upwards of 15 pounds only to gain it back.  Trendy diets like Paleo and Atkins work for some, but for many it is unrealistic to keep up with  long term.  I am one of those people.

The key is learning to eat the right kind of carbs, proteins and healthy fats. When we start eating these, our cravings for sugar naturally go away, we feel more full and satisfied, and the weight starts coming off!

Ok, so what have I been eating?

Healthy sugars (aka fruit)

I am a busy mom, so I need quick and easy meals and snacks!  I have one smoothie a day, because they are nutrient dense and take less time to consume than a sit down meal.  Often I will drink one for breakfast each day.  Two things I always put in my smoothies are spinach and chia seeds.  Spinach is super good for you, and it is easily masked by fruit.  I have put it in my 6 year old's smoothies and he doesn't notice a thing!  Chia seeds contain a bunch of Omega-3's which are super good for you PLUS when they get moistened they produce a jelly type coating which makes you feel full AND aids in digestion.  They are awesome little guys!  I also use a little bit of yogurt (I like vanilla,  but find some with as little sugar as possible).  Each day I switch it up a bit.  My favorites are pineapple and blueberry or banana and avocado, however I just use whatever fresh fruit I have in the house at the time.  Smoothies are cool like that.

Healthy fats

One myth is that fat is bad for you.  Not all of it is.  There is good fat and there is not so good fat (but even some of that is ok in moderation).  Bad fats are high in saturated fat.  This is cheese, butter, red meat, deep fried foods.  Good fats are olive oil, coconut oil, avocados, nuts and most salad dressings.  There are more, but those are the ones I use most in my diet.  Coconut oil by the way is AMAZING.  It gives wonderful flavor to most foods, and make a delicious substitute to butter on your whole grain toast :)  Nuts make a great go-to snack when you are on the run.  I always make sure to have almonds, peanuts or mixed nuts in the kitchen.  I couldn't live without them.  Raw is best.  The flavored kind typically have lots of sodium.  A little bit of peanut butter with a green apple is healthy and delicious for a snack!

spinach salad, quinoa salad, and a veggie burger cooked in coconut oil

Veggies

It is really very hard to eat too much of these, and the variety is endless.  Thankfully I love almost all veggies (although mushrooms and okra can take a hike).  I LOVE salads, and I love mixing them up with fruit and nuts and different dressings.  Experiment, have fun with it!  Roast them, grill them, eat them raw, but try not to boil them or cook the guts out of them as this destroys all the nutritional value!  Veggies you should stay away from are white potatoes (try sweet potatoes), corn in large amounts, and even carrots.  In moderation they are great, but they actually have lots of sugar for a veggie and can spike insulin levels.

 cherry tomato, avocado, corn and cilantro salad with honey lime dressing

 strawberry, blueberry, chicken and feta salad with poppyseed dressing

Go green!  Eat whole and organic whenever possible.

Spinach salad with red grapefruit, almonds and citrus dressing.

Proteins

Lean meat like turkey, chicken and fish are good choices.  I love my steak, don't get me wrong, but red meat like beef and pork contain a lot of saturated fat which I like to eat in moderation.  Eggs are your friend.  Try various omelettes, breakfast burritos (with a whole wheat wrap), and even deviled eggs with a little mayo won't hurt.

Beans, beans are good for your heart! ;)  I love throwing black beans in with quinoa to make a yummy salad, or as a filler in wraps with chicken.  I also LOVE me some hummus!  It's low carb and delicious with whole wheat pita chips or veggies.  (I am starting to get hungry)

Spinach, tomato and onion omelet with fresh fruit

Good carbs

If you have to have carbs, make them as good as possible.  Brown rice, whole wheat pasta, 100% whole wheat bread, whole wheat wraps, etc.  Whole grains don't spike your insulin levels, and they leave you much more satisfied and without the cravings that refined carbs leave you with.  I try to limit these foods to one serving a day.

Turkey wrap with spinach, red peppers and hummus

So that's what I eat in a {nut}shell.

One thing both my husband and I have noticed with eating this way is that  1) our cravings are gone 2) we eat less because we feel more full 3) everything tastes better!!  Our diets were so heavily laden with refined carbs, salt and sugar before that healthy food tasted bland.  Now that the junk is out of our systems we can actually taste again.  Whole and natural food is truly delicious and bursting with flavor!

Tomorrow I will try to post my favorite healthy recipes for you.  So tell me, what do you struggle with the most when it comes to diet, and what can you do to change it?