Day 58 - Nutrition

I have some general rules when it comes to my eating regime and nutrition. In general I am not a nutrition nut, but I am mindful of certain things... like achieving some balance, and making sure I get plenty of certain nutrients. Here are some of my "general rules".

1. Eat less meat. I could never go completely vegetarian, because I love meat too much - every kind! But I rarely make meat the focus of my meals. I have small portions of meat (usually 100 grams, cooked) and fill the rest of my plate with less calorie dense foods. I eat all types of meat, but predominantly fish/shellfish and poultry. Meat is usually only included in my dinner (rarely my lunch, and never my breakfast), and a couple of days a week I eat no meat at all. Meat is calorie dense and taking a vegetarian day here and there, gives you some flexibility in other areas for a change up (like having peanut butter - hmmm).

2. Avoid drinking calories. This includes smoothies, I am "anti-smoothie", I know they may be healthy, but I like to CHEW my food! I do put a "splash" of skim milk in my coffee and I don't log it (GASP!). But I figured it out once, I use 1/2 tbsp of skim milk per cup of coffee and this works out to 12 calories per day maximum. I also drink Green Tea with my lunch everyday, and low sodium club soda with my dinner. My only exception to this is alcohol and I limit this to wine and light beer on special occasions.

3. Eat whole grains. I try whenever possible to eat whole grain foods. Monday to Friday, my lunch includes 100% whole wheat breads (usually flatbreads or bagels). My only exceptions are sourdough bread on weekends (I have heard that white sourdough is better than regular white bread, but I'm not sure what the scientific basis for that is..) and rice, I just really don't like brown rice... it's too chewy... but I don't eat a ton of rice (maybe once a week), so I stick to white because I like it better (see #4, below).

4. Never eat anything I don't like. When you have a limited calorie budget, there is no room to eat food that you don't absolutely LOVE. I have over the years developed "go to" low calorie breakfasts/lunches that I love and which fill me up, and I pretty much stick with the formula that works.

5. Pay attention to macro-nutrients breakdowns (but not obsessively). In general I only count calories. Period. Not fat, not carbs - nothing else. It is almost impossible to eat TOO much fat, if you are on a calorie budget anyway (not if you want to feel satisfied). I often think back over the day when I'm planning dinner to make sure I've had veggies, grains, protein, etc. But I don't count. Using Calorie King, I averaged my nutrient breakdown over the last three months, and it looks like this: 55% carbs, 17% protein, 28% fat. I am very happy that I achieved that balance without counting anything but calories, and using common sense.

That's pretty much it, aside from some other small things. I exercise consistently. I stick to my calorie target (1300) whenever I can. I don't plan free days, or cheat meals (then I overeat just for the sake of it, because my "plan" says I should). But, if I have a special occasion, I don't worry about going over. I have in the past had trouble with binging, and I try to avoid things that may trigger binges. I take a multivitamin every morning, and I have recently started taking a calcium supplement, because I think I may be a little shy of 1000mg of calcium a day.

Here is my food from yesterday. I had planned to make couscous for dinner, but I was out, so I tried the same recipe with bulgur instead. Boy was it good! And, I've discovered that bulgur is slightly lower in calories than rice or couscous so I was able to have a little more! Bulgur is high in protein and fiber, and low in fat! 1/2 cup of cooked bulgur has 76 calories, 3g protein, 4g fiber and less than 1g of fat.