In A Food Mood

What I eat.

That's what everyone always wants to know when I tell them about the whole eating healthy thing.

So today I am going to tell you about what I eat. But I am going to preface what I am about to say by telling you that this time I am going into it as a lifestyle, not as a diet. To me, diets are finite. Something you do with a goal in mind. Lifestyles are forever, a habit you're building one meal at a time like I talked about last week. So I will say that I don't do this all perfectly every day. I might declare that for one meal I am going to have what I want. I might have a small dish of ice cream.

The main reason I am changing my eating habits is because 1) I found myself getting sick several times in a row and 2) I was waking up in the middle of the night and could not go back to sleep. Both of these things didn't happen when I was eating right. So I thought-- get back to what you know works if you want to see change occur.

So I have. But I think being as stringent with myself as I had to be when I was doing it as a diet would make me give up in despair. So I am lenient with myself, allowing myself a few cheats here and there, not sticking to it so harshly that I make myself crazy.

Ok, getting back to what I eat.

For breakfast I eat 2 eggs, usually soft boiled, or 2 pieces of turkey bacon and a grapefruit. I love grapefruit so this works for me. And yes, I pretty much eat the same thing every. Single. Day.
Cheat: McDonald's maple and fruit oatmeal

For lunch I eat a big salad with deli turkey meat, sliced strawberries and slivered almonds on it. I put olive oil and balsamic vinegar on it along with some fresh ground pepper and sea salt. It's delicious. If I don't have time to make that big salad, I eat some deli meat and some cubed melon (I try to keep some on hand at all times-- the kind they have in the produce section already cubed).
Cheat: Wendy's Apple Pecan Salad
Cheat: If I really really really want bread, I will buy Ezekiel bread and make a sandwich with that or just dip it in some olive oil with fresh ground pepper and sea salt in it. Delish!
Cheat: If I am really in a hurry I grab a Special K protein meal bar.

If I need a snack I keep Blue Diamond Sea Salt Almonds on hand for those times when I am just so hungry.
Cheat: Dove Dark Chocolate Bites, decaf coffee with cream

For dinner I have some sort of meat-- rotisserie chicken, grilled chicken, steak, hamburgers, etc.-- and steamed broccoli or cubed watermelon or another salad on the side.

At night when I am just wanting something special I will make hot tea sweetened with stevia.
Cheat: an occasional real hot chocolate made with skim milk , a dish of cut up strawberries with stevia sprinkled on top.

So far this is working. There are times where I say that I just can't eat another piece of lettuce-- and those are the times where I allow myself to eat something else. A lot of it boils down to just making good choices. To not choose to have potatoes on the side-- to choose broccoli instead. To choose fruit instead of fries. To choose to have salad and not a sandwich. Living a bread and sugar free life is not easy-- it takes a change of mind and a change of habit. But the more you think that way, the easier it becomes to live without.

Next week I will be back to share what I eat when I go out and some of my faves you can find at the chain restaurants. See you then!