I'm here! I made it all the way to Wednesday without blogging, yet I've had so much to share. I started Insanity again with Josh. We started last year and made it all the way to day four and then I got sick and then we never did it again.
We started Monday evening with the fitness test, which was not easy, but I was a little excited to see that my numbers in some areas were high than others. They provide you with a little 60-day calendar to check off each day that you complete a new session so it's really satisfying to cross off each completed day.
I'm very sore, but I feel so good to exercise in the morning, it really sets the tone for the day.
So that brings me to my next topic. Food. I've been doing really well with tracking my food and making an effort to cook at home and eat vegetables and fruits. I spent a good chunk of the weekend and last week cooking and trying out new recipes that I hope to share this week.
I've been thinking a lot about "diet food" and I realized that I hate diet food, but I love health food. To me diet food is anything in a package that has a weight-loss claim (low fat! low calorie! low carb! lose 6 pounds in 2 weeks!). Diet soda, bars, shakes, cookies, crackers, margarine, cereal etc.
Today I had a salad for lunch that I would call health food, not diet food. This is food that sustains and satisfies me. It leaves me feeling emotionally and physically good. It is delicious, and doesn't have a lot of calories. 400 to be exact.
Okay, yes it looks dressing heavy! Here is the run down of my salad:
organic/local mixed greens, local feta, organic bacon, 2 local hard boiled eggs, 1 T slices almonds, and 2 T yogurt dressing.
But it's not just about salads, it's about wholesome food that we make with our own hands. It doesn't have big claims. The lettuce didn't promise I'd lose weight on the package. Nor did the eggs, cheese, or bacon. It just is. And it's good.
That was a lesson a learned today.
That’s my girl! My lunch was an incredible 1/2 cup brown rice + kidney bean curry. (With regular coconut milk.) I am so satisfied.
Dinner will be something I’m dubbing MexiFritatta: potatoes, peppers and eggs cooked until set, topped with salsa and (full fat!) cheese stuck under the broiler. I am so excited.
And isn’t that the opposite of unhealthy eating? We spend so much time feeling guilt and being chronically unsatisfied when we “diet.” Nut when I am being mindful and healthy, I am excited to shop. I am excited to cook. And I am excited to eat. Without guilt or fear. Because I am being kind to my body and my soul.
Great post, my friend.
When we are trying to lose weight/get healthy we tend to gravitate towards those foods that make promises without thinking about the healthy food. When I eat healthy I crave healthy. Your salad looks delicious, feta makes everything so yummy.
This is exactly the outlook you need to not only make weight loss happen for you but to make it stick life-long! When we focus on a diet, it’s not sustainable. But when you change how you look at food–like with a goal of eating healthy foods in healthy quantities–you’re setting yourself up for success!
I have a blog post written for today that is on the same subject. I totally feel the same way!
I’m all for health food, too, although I hate salads in the winter. I’m more of a homemade soup gal when it’s so cold out.
This is a GREAT post and I actually thought about this at the grocery store yesterday. For a long time I was consumed with the idea that low-calore bread was the best! But the thing is, I feel much more satisfied when I eat one piece of thick, dense, delicious wheat bread than when I have two pieces reduced-calorie bread.
For breakfast I had two pieces of REAL bread, toasted, with peanut butter and sliced banana and a small hunk of cheddar cheese. I felt WAY satisfied. You are so right, those “diet” foods are not the same as “health” foods.
I have been following your blog for some time now, but have never left a comment for you to tell you that I love your blog. I like seeing the food and think that you and I think alike about salad. I like to put a lot of things in. Also agree that I don’t like diet food,but want healthy food. Keep up the good work
I am totally with you on that line! I got to see Michael Pollan speak last year and he brought up a great point, anything that has enough packaging to be able to make a health claim, isn’t healthy. You can’t put a health claim on an apple, you already know it is.
Jessica
Looks fabulous! Looks similar to what I had for lunch, minus the feta and organic bacon. I too am working hard to plan healthier meals, to become healthier. Just an FYI…Michael Snyder, M.D., has come out with a great book titled, “Full: A Life Without Dieting” that has a lot of really great tips on eating right. By reading his book I learned how to be full with less food but equally as satisfied (if not more so!).
I don’t eat anything with “diet” in the name, or that was created specifically for “diet” diets, but since almost everything has some sort of health claim on it now–Three Musketeers bars are selling themselves as low-fat–I don’t sweat the health-claim stuff too much. If I like it and it’s not horrendously processed, I’ll eat it.
I love those yogurt dressings (and I’m practically a feta cheese junkie). I’ve gotten a lot of flack from people because I always eat low- or fat-free dairy, but it’s because I was raised on low-fat dairy and don’t like the taste of milk-fat (whole milk feels like drinking oil paint to me and has a bitter aftertaste, but skim is sweet and refreshing. All a matter of perspective). I don’t consider it diet food, but apparently a lot of my friends do. So . . . it could go either way.
That looks so amazing! Bacon, eggs and spinach are probably all in my top 20 favorite foods. Noom, Noom!!!
I just came across your blog and Insanity caught my eye. I am doing a Chalean Extreme/Turbo Fire Hybrid. I <3 Beach Body. If you are on their message boards my screen name is elisha201