So What Should I Eat?

By the picture, I bet you expect me to say Vegetarian is Best! Or Vegan is Best! Well my friend, I love you, but nope!

If you are like me, you want your ideal body weight to just show up. You want to eat your way to your ideal body weight. And you don't want to spend countless hours away from your family, sweating in a gym (my public health background wants me to insert all the potential skin infections people get from shared workout machines, but I don't want to think about that, and I doubt you want that mental image anyways. ;) ), or running on a back road. Though I do love my walks on all backroads and time in nature. I just don't have enough time to get there every day, so I need something easier and faster.

Sounds impossible right? LIke I want my cake and eat it too? My response to this has always been, why would you have cake if you aren't going to eat it too????

Anyways. I have been learning a lot through my Holistic Nutritionist course. From greats such as Dr. Joel Fuhrman, Dr. Dean Ornish, Dr. Michael Greger, and many more. Diving deep into the current research out there. Looking at foods and then at what the science says about them.

What keeps coming to the top is a plant-based, whole foods diet. What does that mean? For me that means 85% plants, 10% animal products, and 5% whatever I want. Maybe someday I will give up my 5%, but maybe not. You see the beauty of this is you get to decide what numbers you want too! You get to decide what scale of results you want and how fast you want them. There is no one here to tell you "put this in your mouth and not that." Because that just isn't sustainable.

Here are some definitions to get you started on this lifestyle:

Whole foods-"nothing good taken out and nothing bad (sugar, salt, oil, or chemicals like artificial colors, preservatives, or flavors) added."-Dr. Michael Greger These foods are as close to the real deal as possible. Essentially still in the same form as they were when they grew.

Minimally Processed Food-these foods are harder to distinguish, but they are foods that have gone through some processing but are still healthy. Think like whole-grain pasta, tortillas, nut butters. They still fit the "nothing good taken out and nothing bad added" rule.

Processed or Highly Processed Food-here food has undergone dramatic transformation and resembles little of any of its original qualities. Typically fiber has been removed, concentrating calories. And unhealthy things have been added such as sugar, oil, salt or chemicals. Interestingly enough these packages typically have the largest font of "Added Calcium" "All Natural" "Brewed Fresh" "Heart Healthy" or some other health claim. But as Michael Pollan puts it, "Don't take the silence of the yams as a sign they have nothing valuable to say about health."

Tips for reading labels

Source: Alona Pulde, J. M., & Ledderman, P. (2017) The whole foods diet: The lifesaving plan for health and longevity. Hachette Book Group. New York. NY.