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Clean(er) eating
So I got scared into trying to eat better after a mystery forearm bruise that literally just looked like leaks had sprung in my veins and scary swollen veins that must be water retention or dehydration related? I’ve been salt deficient in the past though when eating really healthily…I take anti epileptics that are sodium channel blockers so I don’t know if it’s related to that. I guess that would logically cause the opposite/potassium deficiency? I dunno but hoping it’s not the medication in general cuz it seriously has been a miracle drug for me for the past 5 (6?) years. Mostly shows up when I’ve been running a lot so probably not rehydrating properly. But I digress….
I wanted to share some helpful food stuffs I have found! Which I’m sure a lot of you know about, but a thread on SV was what got me excited about clean eating so just gonna keep spreading the love! I (like all of you!) am really busy, especially during the school year. On most days I leave my house at 5:30 am and am not home until 6 pm. This means it is WAY too easy to eat badly if I don’t plan ahead and it’s WAY too expensive to eat healthily out and about. It’s at least 2 meals a days while I’m out, usually 3, and Iots of snacks cuz I get real hangry and non-functional if I don’t eat about every 3 hours.
So! Behold! Mason jar-ery! (Again I apologize if this has been posted before!)
Mason jar salads: the seemingly most popular pinteresty thing and general health food internet craze in the past few years. Later a quart sized mason jar with dressing on the bottom, all the fruits and veggies or anything that would taste good marinated/pickled in the dressing on the bottom, then sort of continue layering starting from heartiest veggies and working your way up until the lettuce/spinach/etc is on the top! Whenever you are ready to eat, shake that sucker up and hooray you have a fresh salad! The mason jars seriously keep this stuff so fresh. Here is a good instructional site, but you kinda have to explore you’re own recipes but the method seems to work for just about everything! http://www.organizeyourselfskinny.com/2014/03/17/the-ultimate-mason-jar-salad-tutorial-and-recipe-round-up/
Another awesome thing is: overnight oatmeal! Holy crap. Genius. Put it in the fridge the night before, next day: breakfast! (Plus they are way cute) http://www.organizeyourselfskinny.com/2014/06/04/blueberry-almond-and-coconut-overnight-oats-oatmeal-in-a-jar/ (her recipes for these are good, cherry and blueberry π
Something I’ve done for a long time but a lot of people are not into: boiling a bunch of eggs at the beginning of the week, then anytime you want a protein rich snack you just grab it and go. I have a 1.5 hour commute so I have a little container to put my eggshells in and I just peel and munch away while sitting in traffic and listening to podcasts. Bananas are very commute friendly as well. However…most people get grossed out at the thought of just eating plain hard boiled eggs like they’re apples, but it doesn’t really bother me! I wouldn’t say I like it, but it gets the job done and keeps me full through my 2 hour lecture class O_O
Premixed snacks (again, not crazy revelatory, but is so helpful and why do I forget about it? Who knows. almonds and raisins are gods gift, apple slices with almond butter, if you’re feeling real crazy I cook up a bunch of turkey balls (like meat balls but sub turkey, and you can season em up all kinds of different ways so that’s fun π
Pre made green juices (I use a nutribullet and it works great, but someday I will get a Vitamix Γ°ΕΈΛΒ¬) and storing them in mason jars holds surprisingly well, ppl say they hold for a week but I only keep em for 3 days at a time max. So one batch at the beginning of the week and one batch mid week. Rule of thumb for beginners seems to be 60% yummy fruits stuff (or cocoa) and 40% green veggie stuff. I lean towards more veggie stuff just cuz I’m not a huge fruit person. Def don’t mind drinks that taste a bit earthy
I still do my protein drinks and stuff too, for adequate salt intake when I’m not getting enough electrolytes etc (I can def tell when I’m not) I just put a little bit of salt in my water. One of our nutrition professors used to always say the best recovery sports drink was yogurt, water, and salt. Have not been able to bring myself to make or drink that (Yeesh…that texture), but im sure she had a point π
Moral of the story…mason jars rule. And really they can be as healthy or as unhealthy as you want them to be (saw in recipe for pancakes in a mason jar…seriously…mix it in the har and throw it in the microwave whenever you’re ready: pancakes) since I basically live out of my car, this has been so amazing. Probably less practical to carry around a bunch of mason jars of you’re running around subways and walking everywhere …but this works for me, and maybe will for some of you too! It’s been cool enough I haven’t encountered a need for a refrigerator, but well tackle that animal when it comes.
Can’t recall which site said this but when you’re starting out…don’t feel like you have to prep EVERYTHING/all meals at first cuz then it’ll feel like too monumental of a task. That advice seems basic but was really helpful, every little bit helps. Way back when and I was good about meal prepping, I would just make like one or two things and eat that ALL week, which was fine. But the way I was storing it the quality was considerably lacking by the end of the week, and the nutrition value was probably horrendous, and the lack of variety was probably not the most healthful thing.
Oh! It’s also frickin useful to cut up ingredients you’ll need to cook something later in the week and then when the time comes and youre dog tired but want a hot meal, you’ll have a large part of the prep work done.
Hoping to take this next level at some point and start making my own almond butter and stuff, but one step at a time! I can’t even tell you guys how much better I feel off of crappy food and sodas and whatever was convenient. The biggest thing to not fall prey to that stuff is being on top of eating SOMETHING every couple hours because otherwise my sugar drops and my brain is just like WE NEED SOMETHING FAST. SOMETHING WITH LOTS OF CALORIES AND SUGAR.
I’m still at the very beginning of this journey and in the honey moon phase, so check back in a month and I may not be singing this same tune. But as for now! I’m singin it and in it to win it! In theory your body biologically starts to be less efficient at 30 so trying to lay down as much ground work as I can in the next year or too! Γ°ΕΈΛβ
Ps. Keep in mind I don’t do the vegetarian/vegan thing just cuz my body needs meat/protein rich, also maybe an epileptic thing (I use that term losely cuz I’ve never had a full on spazz out seizure, just funky EEG readings and general nervous system weirdness), fun fact: the keto diet was made to treat epileptics and was actually pretty damn effective. So gimme all the meats and cheeses! Jk trying to make my proteins mostly egg based even though I love he meats and he cheeses…also fun fact..quinoa is pretty damn high in protein (but also high in calories). Second point: I don’t really eat calorie consciously just because pole and my general level of activity burns SO many calories I kinda need as much as I can get and man, getting enough calories while eating healthy can be a pain in the ass. Quiboa is my savior for that. Anyways, adjust accordingly for your goals obviously! Cuz I dunno what the calories look like on some of these things (im looking at you tasty oatmeal…) but the jars make it super easy to portion control if needed!
Sorry this is a long ramble, just stoked on it and wanted to share!
Thanks for listening (reading?)!
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5 Replies
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This is lovely to read I can always use reminders to keep the meal plan on Track. I actually just did my first grocery store trip based off of a fairly detailed 3 meals a day menu plan … Hopefully that’s put me at the store once a week vs every other day π plus eating fresh can be expensive if you don’t plan and hen waste … Uuuuhhhheeemmm.
I’m way guilty as a stay at home mom some days i want to run from the kitchen … No joke. But that won’t work:) my family switched to a paleo life about 3 years ago. My husband literally dropped about 60 lbs the first head simply by that. I experienced a lift of mental fog as well when we were eating like this. But it didn’t stop there of course naturally one thing led to the other , educated myself on GMOs and mon organic food . Sad to say most people in America have no idea they are poisoning themselves with food every day. I really need to get back to having tons of veggies around. I felt like superwoman when I ate right. This last year however i fell way off and almost stopped eating. Never been abig eater. But These last 3 weeks I’ve been counting calories to see what I do eat… Let’s just say 800-1000 calories a day , 420 of those being calories from a ditch bros mocha. Haha kinda addicted to mochas. However proud to say a few months back that was actually 2 a day so even less food on those days. Amazing what the body will tolerate , for a while π you listed some really really great ideas and reminders thank you thank
you!! Food is energy . I need that tattooed on me;) -
What an awesome website! Thanks for sharing!
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this is awesome!! i too know i should be eating much better but life gets in the way and before u know it you are back stuck in bad habits, and feeling crap for it… =/ i need reminders like this to jog me into action; this salad jar idea sounds awesome and really versatile =)
yeah i hate that i am doing all the right things at the gym and studio then letting myself down by fueling up on crap… kinda feels like im undoing my hard work and not giving my body the chance to be the best it can… i find i almost forget how amazing it feels when i actually fuel myslef with goodness and its too easy to go ‘ooooh im starving i cant be bothered to spend x time cooking hmm pizza will do ooh its delicious i will have some more … oh great now i feel fat and horrible and listless’ =P i have the same problem with time – when i factor in my commute it makes for a 12 hr day so i eat breakfast and lunch at my desk plus snacks (=expensive! another reason i keep telling myself to bring food in..) then by the time i get home and pole or just chill i am ravenous but too lazy to cook, so i eat junk food or takeaway or something stupid like a packet of biscuits…. =P aaaarrrgghghg its even worse seeing it written down!!! this thread is a really good incentive to make a healthy change haha!!! =D -
Plus your food is more fun to eat when it looks all pretty π
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You are right about calories…
Caloric amount doesn’t bother me as much as quality of calories I eat and a proportional content of protein, fat and always high glycemic index complex carbohydrates. Combining these appropriately and getting the dense amount of calories accordingly to your body needs is the key
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