So what DO you eat?

One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well-Virginia Woolf

I love food.  There is no question about that.  Although as a child I was quite picky (think chicken nuggets and French fries every night for 13 years), as I have grown older, my tastes have also grown more diverse.  Unfortunately, I was eating WAY too much of all the wrong foods.  I was a sucker for sweets, addicted to salt, and even though I tried, I never knew when to quit. 

When I started Challenge Erie, I knew all of that had to change.  Lucky for me, I was given some guidance.  I decided to really step out of my comfort zone and go sugar free.  To clarify I wasn't 100% sugar free, I still allowed natural sugars.  I went sugar free in the sense that I was eating:

• No processed or refined sugars
• No artificial sugars
• No dairy
• No caffeine
• And for the first 3 weeks no alcohol (I've tried to keep the alcohol consumption to a minimum since then)

 

This was a daunting task.  I read somewhere (although I can't recall where now) that over 85% of foods at the grocery store contain some type of sugar.  On top of that, I am aware of almost 30 ways that sugar is listed on the label (and I'm sure there are probably other ways I am unaware of).  Needless to say, cutting out sugar cut out a lot of foods that I used to eat.  Now that I'm over two months in, things have gotten much easier, but the question I hear all the time is, "What DO you eat?"

My diet now consists mainly of fresh fruits and vegetables and protein. There really aren't too many processed foods that don't have sugar.  I've also noticed that I've really reduced the amount of carbs that I'm eating as well.  Eating out is tricky, so I really make an effort to make as much at home as possible.  In the coming weeks I will try and get some of my favorite recipes up so that you may use them as well. (I'm by no means a chef, so I can't promise anything spectacular...but we like them!)

So what am I eating now? 

Breakfast - typically a smoothie of some sort paired with a piece of Ezekiel toast with organic peanut butter

Lunch - Piece of fruit, peanut butter sandwich or a wrap with chicken and veggies, blue corn tortilla chips with homemade salsa

Dinner - chicken or seafood, steamed or roasted veggie, occasionally some whole wheat or brown rice pasta or quinoa

Snacks - nuts, dried fruit (really need to read labels on this one), pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds, blue corn tortilla chips with salsa