Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Healthy Eating

How do you eat healthy? What are your go-to healthy (or at least healthy-ish) snacks?

I feel as though I eat the same things over and over and while I’m not necessarily sick of them, I think it’s good for our bodies to mix it up . . kind of like muscle confusion in a workout – food confusion in your diet?

Here are some examples of what my diet looks like on any given day:

Breakfast
Almost always: healthy whole grain cereal with skim or 1% milk (I hear 1% has more nutrients even if it is a bit fattier)
Occasionally: Dannon Light & Fit yogurt in strawberry banana (I also heard this is healthier, lower-cal, less sugar than the Yoplait I’ve always eaten)
Quaker Oat Maple and Brown Sugar instant oatmeal
Toast with peanut butter and strawberry jam

Lunch
Homemade Salads with either tuna, hard-boiled eggs and chicken for protein and lots of veggies, nuts, fruit, and a little cheese and light dressing
This week: lettuce, chicken, cucumbers, corn, roasted red peppers, thyme, parsley, green beans, goat cheese, crispy onions
It’s either this salad or a sandwich from Subway, which always leaves a lot to be desired. Maybe a skinny Potbelly sandwich instead.

Snacks
Carrots and hummus (so filling and yummy)
Stacy’s pita chips (I don’t care if these aren’t healthy, I am obsessed with eating them plain.)
Apples
Strawberries or raspberries or a banana
Fiber Plus bars (less sugary and lower cal than Fiber One, plus tastier!)
Laughing cow cheese wedges

Dinner
Scrambled egg sandwich with a little miracle whip and cheese
Tuna sandwich
PB&J sandwich
Shredded chicken with tomato, hummus, lettuce and Italian dressing on a tortilla
Sliced apples, pb, and honey open-faced sandwich
Scrambled egg burrito with salsa and shredded cheese
Sides of frozen veggies like broccoli, corn, or peas
Maybe a side of couscous with corn

What discourages me is that, although I feel that the above is a pretty healthy, low calorie diet, I’m still a little less than happy with my progress in the weight loss department. I have shed probably five pounds in the past couple of months, which brings me back to where I was pre-Christmas and L.A. pig-outs, but I want ALL the jiggle gone. All my clothes fit, and I’m not exactly in a bad place, so maybe I’m shooting for something that would be impossible to maintain anyway. That thought has crossed my mind. I mean, how many people really have zero insulation? Sometimes in gym class, I think “If I had a kid at home, it would be really hard to be here running these sprints or doing these push-ups.” And that scares me. I need to be maintaining a workout routine that won’t be completely unrealistic in the future. Otherwise, I might have a meltdown when my body never fully bounces back. Me at twenty years old, best shape of my life? I’m never gonna be there again . . and that’s ok.

Either way, what do you eat that is easy and healthy? I love options. (By the way, that sliced apple open-faced sandwich I mentioned above? So good!)

4 comments:

kjm said...

That all does sound pretty healthy to me! And it gave me some ideas for myself. I have recently been perusing food blogs to see how 'normal' people eat. My favorites are http://iowagirleats.com/ & http://www.katheats.com/
These not only give me great ideas for food varieties but helped me realize my way off portion size problem (which is now much better). I've lost 30lbs since March which seems so slow but I guess is healthy slow and these blogs have really helped. You're doing great by the way!

Unknown said...

hmmm I like this post! I like meal ideas :) I have a few random thoughts:

I am obsessed with green smoothies, I eat one for lunch or "2nd lunch" every day. They range from 150-250 calories depending what you add. And very filling.

I like plain tortilla chips to satisfy my "junk" cravings, bc they are really not that bad for you (just corn, oil, salt) yet extremely satisfying.

I can't do cereal for breakfast too frequently because then I'm starving about 2 hours later! I have to have an egg or yogurt and oatmeal or something.

We eat a lot of fish around here, usually with sweet potatoes and veggies as sides. Yum!

Anonymous said...

I eat a lot of the same things you eat. My newest obession has been greek yogurt - so much protein with way less fake sweetener (I thought it was awful tart at first, but I've gotten used to it).

Pablo said...

That looks like an utopian diet.
My idea of healthy eating is focused on trying to avoid things like sugar, flour, some lacteals, and fat, not completely because food is basically made of these elements; also trying to eat fruits, oatmeal, water (no alcohol nor sodas),eggs,etc. When I say "healthy" I´m not talking about losing weight , I´m talking about things that are not harmful to the body, because if you eat a lot of apples, bananas,oatmeal, etc, you could gain weight too, it depends on how much of that energy you use.