What's On My Plate?

Today I'm going more into what my diet consists of these days, as I've received a lot of emails from people wanting to know exact meal plans. I understand the dilemma. When I first changed my diet, I didn't know what the heck to eat either, nor did I have the energy for much preparation so I kept it simple - come to think of it, I still keep it simple. While my diet has evolved a little in the past three months, I still eat most of the foods I mentioned in my updated health post, in October. Here's what I've been eating since starting this new sugar free phase, after Christmas.

I mentioned eating a high protein diet, but I realize that it's actually more of a moderate level of protein. Much lower than the protein levels of most fitness models, athletes, and body builders, that's for sure. Relatively speaking, though, this is high protein for me since I'm not used to eating protein rich animal foods. Matt Stone is often quick to remind me that it's important to eat enough carbs. Carbohydrates I do eat - gluten free ones, mostly in the form of vegetables both raw and cooked. I'm not interested in analyzing the ratio of macronutrients in my diet. Instead I'm happy eating a various fresh, whole foods and go by how I feel to gauge my progress. I drink lots of fresh spring water all day long, and sometimes medicinal and herbal teas.

Here are the foods I eat:

- Veggies/nonsweet fruits - romaine lettuce, cucumber, tomato, bell peppers, zucchini, celery, avocado, chard, kale, eggplant, broccoli, cabbage, onion, cauliflower, lemon, lime
- Wild meat, mostly deer/moose/elk
- Wild fish (raw & cooked)
- Sauerkraut
- Plain yogurt
- Eggs
- Seaweed
- Nuts/seeds
- Squash/yams
- Fresh/dried herbs, himalayan salt, miso, apple cider vinegar
- Olive oil, coconut oil, cultured butter

I start the day with 1/4-1/2 cup plain yogurt, as a probiotic. My breakfast is either eggs with veggies, or a salad with meat - and I have the other for lunch. I often make a big enough batch of salad dressing to last a week, or I mash some avocado and a drizzle of olive oil/ apple cider vinegar /salt into my salad. I usually have another salad for dinner - maybe with an egg or two, or fish (if my dad has caught any), or with meat if I haven't had any earlier in the day (I eat meat once a day). Or I might have a combo of raw and cooked veggies for dinner, which sometimes includes yams or squash, either baked or in a soup. For snacks I enjoy nuts (I love cracking nuts these days), plain yogurt, and veggies with dip.

Here are some typical daily meals:

- 2 eggs, cooked in a little coconut oil or cultured butter - scrambled, overeasy, or sunny side up - along with lightly sauteed chard and zucchini, with raw tomato on top (in the past few days I've also been adding a bit of my eggplant dip to my eggs).

- Salad with romaine, cucumber, celery, tomato, avocado, sauerkraut, seaweed, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, and himalayan salt with moose/deer meat which I cook in a little bit of water (on the rare side).

- Baked yam or squash (which I eat with veggies).

- Veggies - roasted, stir fried, or in a soup.

When I write out these meal options it looks plain and boring. But I love love love salads and veggies, so it works for me, plus there are so many things you can do with basic foods. With all the ingredients I mentioned above, I've made various egg dishes, curries, soups, dips, stir fries, and noodle dishes. I'll post recipes soon.

Confession time. In all my humanness I've had one slip in the sugar free journey thus far. After 6 days of being really diligent, I had a few treats to ring in the New Year. The difference is that it had nothing to do with cravings. I was feeling really good with the diet, and when it was time to celebrate, I decided to enjoy a martini (vodka, fresh lemon & lime juice, ginger, peach medicine flower extract, sparkling mineral water), some wine, and 2 small truffles.

Like I said, this plan satisfies me and I'm without any sugar cravings for the first time in my life. Cheers to great health!

Questions? Post a comment :)