So recently I’ve noticed a new trend happening within. I’m starting to think that 3 meals a day for me plus healthy snacks is too much food. Sounds crazy, right? But here’s the thing- I think when you’re eating food that is exactly what your body needs, you actually need less of it. Let me try and break it down even more. When you eat a lot of food, but only say 35% of that meal is pure goodness for your body (and that’s a generous percentage for most of the stuff Americans have come to love), your body will still tell you it needs more nutrients, but you interpret it as needing more food. Processed packaged foods have so many confusing ingredients for your body to sort through, so it takes a little longer to process and find actual needed nutrients in there while detoxing all the junk chemicals and additives. You’re also left with needs unfulfilled and a little while later, more hunger or intense cravings, which most people satisfy with more nutrient-lacking foods. However, when you’re eating pure foods, that are nothing but nourishing, like raw and lightly cooked vegetables, plain fruits and organic meats, your body knows exactly how to use them and does so much more efficiently. You’re also left with fewer cravings because your body is getting all the amino acids, vitamins, and minerals it most likely needs. So this is where I think I’m taking it overboard. For me, my processed indulgences are organic corn chips and salsa and the occasional slice of gluten-free toast. So that aside, I fill up on salad greens, eggs, nuts, sauteed veggies, and healthy meats, almost daily. And I think 3 nutrient dense meals a day are adding up to be a bit too much for me. I’ve been feeling kind of heavy and sluggish, like there is simply too much food in my belly at all times! I am able to notice this now particularly because over the holidays, while I did have too much alcohol and a little too much sugar, my meals themselves were much more sparse. We had a lot of activities, and with my gluten/dairy free lifestyle I was able to avoid a lot of the weight gaining fare. Then when we got back to New York, we had already packed up our previous apartment to get ready to move, and had no cookware available. We would wake up in the morning and immediately be distracted with what we needed to do to move, then had to go out and find food when we were hungry, then became distracted the rest of the day until we were hungry again for dinner. I was probably only eating about two meals a day for a handful of days there, and I noticed that I felt lighter and more energetic. I even indulged in gluten-free pancakes, with organic maple syrup and butter one Sunday afternoon, and then wasn’t able to eat again until dinner, which was rather light, whatever we could scrap together. The next day I felt so great, I couldn’t believe I’d eaten so many pancakes the day before, because they usually leave me bloated when included in a day involving 2 more meals and snacks.
So this might sound as if I’m saying calorie restriction is where it’s at, but that’s not it at all. You can keep your calories at 1,000 calories a day by eating McDonald’s french fries and a cupcake, and you’d probably lose a lot of weight, but obviously you would not be healthy! You’d be starving, and your body would go into starvation mode. But if you’re eating 300 calories worth of pure nutrient filled foods a few times throughout the day, and you have things going on that keep you intrigued or busy in a positive way, you might not notice any hunger until it comes a knockin’ telling you it’s time for more pure food. Now I’m not big on calorie counting, but every now and then I try and ballpark a figure of what I typically eat in a day, and I guesstimate that I eat about 1,600 to 1,700 calories a day, and almost 50 grams of fat a day (nuts, seeds, healthy oil and occasional meat). For me, I know I use food as a procrastination and boredom tool. This is a very dangerous habit, and I know I’m not alone. So I’d like to experiment with this theory and go back to simply eating less, but still very nutrient dense to see if I can get back to feeling like I was a few weeks ago without feeling hungry all the time. If I have time to realize I’m bored, I start thinking about snacks to get that will make me feel like I’m doing something. So I’ll have to work against that urge and find lots of non-eating activities to fill my down time, but I’m very interested in exploring this.
Things that I want to try:
1) eating less nuts! I know I eat too many nuts. They’re power houses of health, but too many are simply too many.
2) I also want to incorporate more raw vegetables into my day as snacks. When I get hungry my go-to as late has been Kind nut bars. See? I’m just too nuts about nuts. I want to try and incorporate filling, but low-calorie snacks like apples, carrots, and celery into my day to replace my nutty indulgences.
3) In the morning, I’m going to try eating a lighter breakfast, maybe just some fruit or 2 eggs instead of the rich salad with 1 or 2 eggs and a nutrient dense Sunshine burger I’ve adopted as a breakfast habit.
4) I also need to drink more water! I’ve not been on top of this recently, and whenever I drastically increase my water, my desire to eat goes way down. I just feel more satisfied when I’m hydrated and don’t feel the need to eat for the sake of eating.
Sounds easy enough, but if it really was I wouldn’t have a career! I’ll start tomorrow and see how things go and report back next week. I already polished off the raw cashews today anyways, so we’ll see what my body tells me it needs tomorrow!
