Make Better Diet Decisions

“Dieting,” or what I like to refer to as, mindful and healthy eating, is something I’ve always struggled with. I’m the type that will work my ass off for a hour in the gym, just to go home and eat pizza and drink beer.  I’m simply maintaining my weight, with a little wavering up and down depending on the season.  With that said, I want to discuss with you some of my healthier options I’ve been inserting into my diet for some time now, that I think not only taste great, but they’re also very easy to maintain, relatively inexpensive and easily accessible.  While no food is great in excessive amounts, these foods below are great in moderation and all have fantastic nutritional values in their own right.

Eggs! I. Love. Eggs. Scrambled, hard-boiled, over-medium, etc.. whatever the case, eggs are awesome.  Their versatility is perhaps the best attribute of the egg.  It’s not uncommon for me to have breakfast for dinner at least 1-2 times per week.  No-nonsense (unless maybe you’re poaching an egg), eggs are simple to prepare and there’s nothing better in life then the time you finally perfect scrambled eggs.  I’m not going to lie; perhaps the secret to a lot of great scrambled eggs, like a lot of food, is butter.  While you could ruin this healthy meal with butter and cheese, I’ve learned to cut these items out and in lieu use light butter cooking spray and light salt and pepper for taste.  If you’re like me, I’ll even throw in peppers and onions for a western twist every now and again.

Avocados! Just a handful of years ago I decided to push my own negative stigmas surrounding guacamole to the side and dive in.  Best decision ever. While I’ve definitely had some bunk guacamole from time to time, when you eventually stumble across the good stuff, you’ll be hooked.  With the advice of a friend, It didn’t take long for me begin my experimentation with sole avocados.  Avocados are a great substitute for mayonnaise, salad dressing and sour cream.  My new obsession is eating avocados right from the shell with a little salt and crushed-red pepper seeds on top, it’s divine.  This healthy fat is the perfect accompany to not only any Cinco De Mayo, but any day!

Spices & herbs! While it doesn’t hurt that I work for a dry spice company, I can’t advocate enough for the use of dry spices and herbs over fat infused condiments, rubs or salad dressings.  Skip fatty dressings like ranch for some zesty, spicy herbs and a little bit of olive oil and/or vinegar.  Accompany this with some avocadoes for some of that creamy texture and you’ll forget you ever used to abuse salad dressings at all.

Some other small victories/hints I practice:

-Skim milk, or at least 0.5 or 1% is just as good as whole milk.

-Eat before 7pm as much as you can.

-Avoid all pop, diet included, there’s just too much bad research out there for both ends.

-Drink tons of water.

-Watch out for sodium/preservatives in some items you think are healthy.

-You don’t necessarily have to track every single calorie, but have a good idea of what each meal would consist of.  If you’re eating out, a lot of places have begun to either put calories on the menu or you can look up nutritional info online.

-Livestrong.com is a great tool to use for daily tracking of both diet and exercise.  I highly recommend this for anyone starting out, they even have a user-friendly ap for smartphones.

-Everything in proportions. It may sound a bit cliché by now, but small portions more frequently is the way to go.  If you’re going to have one larger meal daily, make it your lunch. Studies have shown that putting off eating all day to eat one big meal for dinner is not the best idea and it can actually both slow metabolism and increase your odds of over-indulging at dinner/before bed.

-Drink smoothies/Juice as often as possible.  No, I don’t have a fancy juicer, but I have something called a blender that seems to suffice just as well.  I’m not one to sit down and eat whole fruits/veggies, so throwing a combination of them into my blender with a little protein juice, milk, V8 or whatever I have handy, is the perfect way to pack in as much nutrition as possible, in a little amount of time.

-Have a cheat day or even two, under two circumstances.  Don’t go crazy and also only as long as those days are accompanied with a vigorous workout.  While they still may not cancel each other out to a T, this will make your emotional/mental health feel better about your less than ideal diet choices for that day or two.  Knowing at least you worked hard for it and rewarding yourself from time to time for your discipline over the other days, you’re likely not to feel as guilty for indulging every once in a while.

-My last tip, don’t obsess over “dieting.” Life’s too short to become a robot that’s constantly worried over what they’re putting into their mouth or what they should be eating.  Eat a cookie every once in a while and enjoy.