The Food Post

These days it seems everyone has an idea of how and what and when we're "supposed" to eat. Nutrition is now a heavily debated topic - a dramatic shift from the days when we believed whole-heartedly in the wisdom of the Food Pyramid. Now the sheer number of dishearteningly dogmatic theories are overwhelming. Vegan, Paleo, Slow Carb, Low Carb, Atkins, Keto - the list goes on and on. How on Earth does one begin to make sense of the constant stream of noise about what the new superfoods are and which foods are secretly going to kill you?

I've been on my personal nutrition journey for just about two years now and I'll tell you, honestly, I'm still figuring out what works for me. What I can tell you though, is that eating "correctly" and "healthfully" is probably completely different for every individual person, so there is no magical "right answer". I wish that I had an easy solution; I understand that in our culture we want everything easier, faster, more conveniently. The fact is, eating what's best for your body is going to take time to figure out. It's going to take a LOT of time and patience and attention. I believe, however, that it's the single most rewarding thing you can do for yourself and it is NEVER too late to start.

It just takes a handful of baby steps to make real and lasting progress.

That said, I want to walk you through my journey and what I've found along the way that works. I'm not a doctor, or a nutritionist; I have ZERO official qualifications. What I do have is two years worth of experimentation based on information I found from people way more educated than I am on this topic, and anecdotal evidence resulting from trying what sounded right to me/what felt right for my body. I've broken it down into what I lovingly call my Baby Steps because I didn't do it all at once. I didn't just wake up one morning and change everything I put in my mouth. It was a slow process (generously encouraged by my best friend whom I can never thank enough...seriously I've already thanked him so many times he begged me to stop). I'd LOVE to hear from any and all of you if you find these steps helpful, what you've found works for you, anything that makes you sit up and pay attention about food! Keep in mind: this whole process has taken me two long years, so there's no rush to tackle the next step. If you choose to use this as a guide, make sure you've really conquered the first step before moving on to the second, and on from there. Without further ado (I know, I know, I go on forever...), my Baby Steps:

STEP ONE: More Veggies...LOTS More Load up the plate! Seriously! When you eat more vegetables, you give your body more of the nutrients it may be lacking without expensive supplements (although, I've found many that are worth the cost - so that'll be a separate post - stay tuned). It's all about feeling good every day and the more vegetables you eat, the more energy you'll have. Fresh, organic veggies cooked in safe fats and oils (see step six) are an incredible addition to every meal (yes, even breakfast) but I found that even just adding one salad every day was a total game changer. It doesn't matter when you eat it, as long as you feel good when you're done (for example, I find if I eat too many leafy greens before noon I get slow and foggy from the digestive effort, but if I have my veggie-packed salad at 1:00PM I have all the energy in the world for my 1:30PM workout!) so this step is all about finding what works best for your individual body.

Our trusty food pyramid told us we should be eating 3-5 servings of vegetables per day, but I find that it should really be 6 and upwards from there. A great way to pack in extra veggies is a smoothie - there are many ways to make a kale smoothie taste like anything but kale (and I'll admit...even I find the taste of kale to be a little...extreme). Many people have great success making a smoothie with just a hefty handful of greens, their favorite organic nut butter, some frozen berries, and whole milk yogurt. Just add water (or if you really need a taste boost, organic not-from-concentrate fruit juice) for a delicious and healthy breakfast. However you can eat them, go for it. There is (almost) no wrong way to do this step. If you're hungry, eat some veggies first, then eat whatever healthy meal you're planning. You'll find that you'll be fuller faster and longer this way. Only catch: don't just load up on carrots and the other starchy vegetables. Make sure you get lots of leafy greens and mix it up all the time. Every different vegetable you eat gives you a different nutrient profile and your body will run best if it has variety!

STEP TWO: No Fried Food

This was HARD, guys. I realized one day that I was done secretly hating my body. I was never someone you'd see walking down the street and think "oh, she could lose a few pounds" but I noticed that I was always tired and things just jiggled more than I wanted them to and the thought of working out made me want to gag. I thought that my body was doomed to slowly deteriorate as I got older but, fortunately, I realized that under 30 was WAYYY too young to accept defeat. I didn't have some master plan, or even a well-defined goal; I just wanted to feel good every day (and maybe tighten up my tummy just a smidge, I'm a little vain, sue me).

This was actually my first step: nix every french fry, every crispy chicken sandwich, every crab rangoon, every donut. It was a constant struggle for me. At the time I was eating out a lot, and do you realize how much of every menu is dominated by foods that are fried in vegetable oil? I'll tell you: it's A LOT. This was not easy, if you choose to follow in my steps this will not be easy for you. But I can tell you, this one was the best choice I ever made. I was almost immediately less tired (and less doughy) than I had been in years. It turns out, vegetable oil at high heat breaks down and causes unreal amounts of inflammation in the body. (I would love to come back and cite scientific sources someday, but I don't have the resources at the moment. If you like, please comment and I'll happily provide where I found my information although I'll warn you - it's been largely second-hand from my favorite podcasts. So with this HUGE caveat, please bear with me.)

Once I stopped bogging myself down with damaged fats I found I slept better, woke up easier, had more focus at work, had energy leftover when I got home to let my husband start teaching me to cook (which was a huge domino in the rest of my food choices, more on that later), and here's the kicker: my mood improved 100%. I hadn't realized that over time I had become a surly, sarcastic, sometimes outright hostile or overly aggressive person. I actually took pride in my dude friends calling me a (pardon my french) "Stone Cold Bitch". Once I cut out the corn dogs, I became happier, lighter, gentler. I finally started to feel like a nice person to be around and that was a game-changer for my self-esteem and a major tipping point for sticking with the process. I finally felt like a person who deserved the body they wanted and who deserved to treat themselves well.

STEP THREE: No Bread, No Pasta (limit refined carbs)

This was a biggie for me. When at a loss for a perfect meal idea, I always succumbed to the starchy embrace of pasta in one of its hundreds of delectable forms. Once I moved toward a diet focused more on quality meats and veggies with non-refined starches (hi there, sweet potatoes and green plantains, I promise you're just as wonderful as your gluten-packed comrades), I found I wasn't sleepy when I finished a meal anymore. Other excellent choices are carrots, butternut or spaghetti squashes, and rice. I discovered that, while I don't have celiac disease or a medical gluten sensitivity, my body just doesn't run optimally when I weigh it down with the process of digesting foods with a significant amount of gluten.

That doesn't mean that I haven't had so much as a warm dinner roll or a spicy pad thai in two years! I'm a human being, and sometimes I do make allowances for the extraordinary and pleasurable things in life. I did however have to be very strict with this rule at first. These foods are highly addictive to your body and brain so one little slip up would have me CRAVING bread and pasta for days. It takes so much energy to fight these cravings that I find it's more often just not worth it to indulge in an "oh, to hell with it" easy meal.

These carbs in particular are hard to quit so it's best to go "cold turkey" from the get-go and only allow yourself to make an exception after you've really mastered the difference between having a craving and truly listening to what your body needs. Suddenly you'll have more room on your plate for quality meats and vegetables and these are what will help power you to do amazing things.

STEP FOUR: No Refined Sugar

I have a big ol' sweet tooth. Fact. I will reach for a pan of brownies over a bag of chips every time (neither of which is a beneficial choice by the way). So trust me when I say I do still have plenty of sweets in my life, I just choose them very carefully (and if you shoot me a request I'd be happy to link you to a few of my favorites).

This step means essentially no store-bought sweets of any kind, however. There are a LOT of "sugar-free" and "naturally sweetened" options out there now, but I will tell you: there is sugar hiding in them and it's frequently the kind that is just as inflammatory and damaging as refined sugar. The best step forward is to cut it all out...for a long while...

I know that's hard to hear, but I also know from experience that if you succeed in doing this, all your food will start to taste sweeter! Seriously. Chances are, your taste buds have handled an onslaught of sugar and other chemicals that are literally designed to activate pleasure centers in your brain, make you want more, and actually turn off your body's ability to sense when it's full. Yes, it is (in some, but not all, cases) as messed up as it sounds (no, not EVERYONE is trying to kill you, but be a little skeptical of the claims on the front of the package). So when you stop eating these processed foods, your taste buds slowly re-calibrate and you can rediscover how sweet a sweet potato really is.

When you think about eating something, really read the ingredient list. Avoid it if it says sugar (white or brown, they're both the same in this sense), syrup, glucose, sucralose, fructose, aspartame (hard to find these days after so many damning studies have been done, but you might be surprised), or - and here's the kicker - "natural flavors". See, when you read that, you think "it's natural, so it must be fine", but the term is largely unregulated and in fact, food manufacturers do not have to divulge what's in there to preserve their proprietary recipe information...which means there might be a sweetener buried in there somewhere.

If you absolutely MUST have something sweet, stick to things sweetened with organic raw honey, pure stevia (Sweetleaf or Swerve brands seem to be the safest bets), monk fruit sweetener, even 100% maple syrup. Really though, it's best to avoid any sweet foods you didn't make yourself (using a recipe lacking any of the "to be avoided" ingredients above) or that didn't come straight from the farm (a handful of organic berries is one of my favorite easy treats these days).

My mind has never felt clearer than when I finally got free of my sugar habit. I found I could really focus on what I was doing, be mindful of my world, and actually remember more. It's like I found extra space in my brain, and I'll never go back. I fully believe everyone can do this step and that they'll feel it too! (*P.S.: this step can - and in my opinion should - include cutting down or cutting out alcohol which is loaded with sugar, but I've chosen to save my advice on this topic for a future post on the finer tips and tricks of this whole process, so keep an eye out for The Food Post 2*)

STEP FIVE: Buy Organic, Buy Local

I know this is A) easier said than done and B) even more difficult depending on the part of the world in which you live and how much money you make. In the end it just boils down to eating real food made with real ingredients. I promise you, this step is worth every extra penny you spend AND think of all the money you're now not spending on fast food and processed snacks!!

Now that Amazon has purchased Whole Foods and services like Thrive are popping up, it's easier than ever to find quality food. The best thing you can do is support your local farms! I didn't even know how many farms were within 20 minutes of my house when I started this journey, but now I love driving just a little way out into the country to pick up my steak, eggs, chicken, sausage, and veggies for the week. Again, I absolutely still buy plenty of my groceries from the supermarket, but I try to stick to the "nicer" stores which stock better quality products and try to buy the bulk of my produce and perishables from local farms. If you can't get to a farm, try to find a store near you that has a portion of their produce section filled with items from farms in your state. You might be surprised at how many stores do this (in my area of the country Hannaford and Wegmans are both top-notch when it comes to this kind of purchasing...feel free to drop me a note if you know of more).

Again, there was a noticeable difference in my energy level and my mood when I really leaned into this step. All of a sudden working out became something I looked forward to doing instead of something I would grit my teeth to get through because I knew it was good for me. There's all kinds of stuff loaded into the food you buy if it's not organic and/or local that make it last longer on the shelf or taste "better" or to alter the texture for pickier eaters. The best thing you can do is to make all your own food from real produce. It makes a world of a difference!

STEP SIX: Don't Fear the Fats

This was actually somewhere between steps one and two for me, but I put it at the end because it's the most nuanced step in the process. All of the previous steps will put you in a state of being mindful of your food choices and careful with how you fuel your body. You'll need all of those skills (and a healthy amount of confidence in yourself which will come naturally - I promise) to navigate this area of nutrition.

So here's the big take-away: fat is good for you. Yup. It is. It fuels your brain better than carbs, it fuels your body to endure, and it keeps you full and satisfied way longer than anything else you can put in your body. The key is to figure out which are the "good" fats and which are the "bad" fats. This is a hotly debated topic so I'm not going to get into the specific science on the differences (again, I'm not a doctor). Instead I'm going to give you a rundown of which fats I find work best for me and how to use them, and which fats I find I need to avoid.

First off: my favorite food in the world right now is avocados. For real. I eat at least one every day and they are jam-packed with healthy saturated fats. I also use coconut oil in my food daily as an addition to my coffee (long story here, check The Food Post 2 for more details), my rice, and as a medium-heat cooking oil.

When cooking with fats, there are one or two things to keep in mind. 1) Cook slower and lower! 2) Only use fats which are solid at room temperature! This includes coconut oil, butter, ghee, pork fat, and beef tallow (for these last two, you can save your own from cooking but these days you can even buy jars of it in the organic section of your local supermarket).

Other friendly fats for jazzing up raw foods or any food after it's been cooked are quality olive oil (quality means nothing in a clear bottle, and nothing that's been harvested more than a year ago...check the back of the bottle for a harvest date and if there isn't one, do not buy it), avocado oil, or macadamia nut oil. My go-to afternoon salad features leafy greens, broccoli sprouts, grape tomatoes, a whole avocado, some seasoned chicken thigh meat (Yes, dark meat - more fat for the win!), sunflower seeds (bit of good fat here too), a sprinkle of pink Himalayan sea salt, and a healthy drizzle (guzzle) of high quality olive oil.

My list of fats to avoid: canola oil, vegetable oil, safflower oil, and any oil that is not raw/unrefined. I also use this rule when I'm looking at the ingredients in the foods I buy. If I want to splurge on a snack, you better believe I'm not eating it if it has been made with these oils. It's a tough rule - these oils are so prevalent in store-bought food because they are extremely shelf-stable and cheap, but they are toxic to my body and I notice, when I eat things made with them, how poorly I feel. They are highly inflammatory, as are even healthy fats if exposed to high heat or other damaging refining processes.

This step has really clarified my definition of what it means to eat healthfully, and mastering it has allowed me to feel fully satisfied with each meal I make. I cannot overstate how important healthy fats are to your body. As I listed above, there are plenty of options in there if you choose to eat a vegan diet. Personally, I love meat in a primal and soulful way and I feel great when I eat it, but I know plenty of people who just run better on a plant-based diet. So there's nothing wrong with choosing that path as long as you're mindful of how you feel after each meal.

So there you have it, my Baby Steps plan for healthful eating. The steps themselves are simple, following them is really hard, but my life has been completely changed by them and I'm sure it can help many others as well. There are some powerful tools embedded in here and I have so many more to share that I just have to write a second post in the future! If you try it and love it (or hate it) or have more steps/tips/tricks to add, please shoot me a note! I'm always looking for more and better information and working together we can achieve so much more than we can by ourselves.

Happy eating!