Am I Allowed to Eat That?

Man, how nice would it be if everyone just agreed on what is "healthy" and what isn't.  It would be SO nice to have a list, organized by meal, as to what was acceptable to eat.  So many times I find myself strolling through Trader Joe's (which is a VERY good place to start, BTW) looking at various new food items, reading ingredients and reading nutrition facts.  Meanwhile, Addie is proceeding to open various items in the cart, my phone is ringing and people are beginning to stare-and I don't blame them; the whole thing is actually quite the scene.  Eating right takes time, lots and lots of time.  It also takes the willingness to say "I'm going to do what I think is best with the knowledge I have" and not worry about what everyone else's input.  As I've said before, let it boil down to this: eat as many whole foods as possible.  I'm aware that everyone and their mother has a list of allergies, intolerances and lists of "don't eats" so I'm terribly sorry that I can't have something out there for everyone.  Again-eating right is a challenge! My goal, however, is to provide you with some workout-friendly things to eat.  Many of these are snack items and/or items that I use to fulfill a certain nutrient necessity.

If I can only get you to hear one thing, let it be this:  you NEED TO EAT BREAKFAST!!  How on earth are you going to get through your day, let alone your workout, without starting your day with fuel?  If you think that by skipping breakfast you're cutting calories and therefore going to aide your weight loss, you couldn't be more wrong.  Think of eating breakfast as turning your body on...getting your metabolism burning...waking your brain up...you get my drift?  Oh, but I already get up early and don't have time.  That's nice.  Make time.  Not making time for the most important meal of the day tells me that you're not serious about your weight loss so why are you still reading?? Now that we're clear, here are some ideas:

• Greek yogurt with fruit
• High Fiber, whole grain cereal or granola
• More fruit 
• Whole wheat English Muffins with peanut butter (or almond butter if you want to raise the nutrition level a notch)
• More fruit
• Oatmeal 
• Eggs

Fun Fact: Fruit is much better digested and more nutrients are absorbed if you eat it on an empty stomach or before your meals.


Now that we agree that you eat breakfast, aim for eating every 2-3 hours after that.  As a general rule, I never eat more than 200 calorie snacks and that's on a workout day.  On a non workout day, aim for about 100-150.  Here are some snacks I ALWAYS stock:

• Nuts About Raspberries Trail Mix from Trader Joe's.  Awesome on so many levels.  150 calories for 1/4 cup.  And yes.  I do get out a measuring cup EVERY TIME.  If this trail mix isn't your thing, find something similar.  No more than 160 cal per serving and focus on low calorie nuts-almonds (NOT coated in sugar-that doesn't count) or pistachios.  
• FRUIT! 
• Find a bar that you like, preferably one with pure ingredients.  If you're new to "clean eating," it's ok to take baby steps.  I don't find it necessary to immediately make such a 180 degree change in your eating behaviors right out of the gate (it IS a journey), but please. Make an HONEST effort.  For example, if your idea of a nutritional bar includes the name "snickers" in it, the chances of you picking up a Lara bar and liking it are slim to none.  Find ones that are at least organic and have minimal processed ingredients-like the Luna bars.  They're a great baby step.  I'd limit, if not completely avoid "protein bars" all together.  The Think Thin bars are probably the "cleanest" of the pack, but the first ingredient is still a "protein blend."  I'm a vegetarian, lift heavy and run fast and hard.  If I can get enough protein without supplementing, so can you.  Anyways.  That's my bar speil.  Here are some that I'm a fan of:
• Kind Bars-found almost anywhere
• Pure Organic Chocolate Brownie-for sure TJ's, haven't checked Sprouts-these are my absolute favorie
• Lara Bars-found almost anywhere 

ps: almost all of these are gluten and dairy free.  

• Greek yogurt of any flavor.  
• If you just.can't.do. Greek yogurt, Trader Joe's has their own brand of regular yogurt that comes with granola attached.  SUPER good.  
• VEGGIES.  For crying out loud, grab a carrot (and don't even THINK about dipping it in high fat ranch or any other creamy dressing for that matter).  
• I'm personally not a fan, but pretzels are also a good chip replacement.  
• Make your own popcorn! Yes.  On the stove.  With a pot.  Get some coconut oil, wait till it melts and then add seeds (I don't need to tell you to put the lid on, do I?).  Top with a little bit of salt.  YUM. 

Ok, hopefully that got you started.  I'd love to ramble on about what I eat for lunch and dinner, but I have a special post coming-just for that : )