Dear Mom - Are you a diet dropout?

Dear Mom,

Are you a diet drop-out?  Stop kidding yourself and simply try the "truly all-natural" route!  In order for a diet to truly work, you must want to make a complete transformation, not just a short-term one until you lose the weight because you will end up on the same path you were on before you started the diet (read my previous blog post "Are You Truly Healthy?").  In order to have that hunger for true, lasting results, you must have that hunger for true nutrition and wellness.  You cannot be afraid of eating truly all-natural foods (fruits, vegetables, legumes, lean proteins, whole grains, etc.), tasting vegetables in your smoothies and drinking water without added flavoring. I am not saying that you have to go cold turkey here and can never eat another slice of pizza or a piece of cake ever again.  I am simply saying to choose an everyday lifestyle, where you make the full-fledged effort of consuming truly natural, nutritious foods and engaging in some form of exercise.  

I hear and read excuse after excuse that eating well and choosing a truly nutritious lifestyle is difficult and processed foods is easy.  Well, let me put it this way:

• Is it easy to carry excess weight around?
• Do you feel great eating processed foods?
• Are you scared of being diagnosed with prehypertension, high-blood pressure, high cholesterol, Type 2 Diabetes, etc? 
• Which is easier on the wallet - a medicinal regimen (taking various medications daily because of high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diet-induced Type 2 Diabetes, etc.) or simply eating truly nutritious foods? 

Here are my answers to the questions above:

• I feel terrible when I carry excess weight
• I feel like I am more susceptible to illness when I consume mostly processed foods for a long period of time.
• I am terrified if I even see my blood pressure get anywhere close to prehypertension and if cholesterol numbers even got close to being on the high side. 
• I would rather eat nutritious foods that my body truly craves over taking medication everyday - that can get pricey! 

I am not a certified dietician or nutritionist, but honestly I do not need to be in order to know that the consumption of truly natural, nutrition-packed foods and regular exercise is one of the best remedies out there to achieve ultimate wellness (read my previous blog post "Quest to Ultimate Wellness".  If you do not believe me, I challenge you to try it for yourself, for a week and you will find out...you will start to feel better overall.


Processed foods is not part of my daily nutrition plan; however do not get me wrong, if I go to a party/get-together and I want to try some of the foods served that are not on my daily nutrition plan, I will not hold myself back from trying.  One of the major reasons I eat the way I do is because my food choices are truly nutrition-packed (earth-grown foods).  Why does our body crave nutrition-packed foods?  We are living organisms and we also crave foods that come from the earth and natural sources, just like plants crave water & sunlight and animals feed from grass, etc.
 
This is what I would normally eat throughout the course of the day. 


BREAKFAST (choose no more than 2)
1/2 cup - 1 cup: cooked steel cut oats or regular oatmeal

1 egg white + 1 whole egg

1-cup Greek yogurt with fresh or frozen fruit

Large green smoothie with tofu

coffee okay (moderation - no more than 1-2 cups/day)

MORNING SUPPLEMENT - high fiber

Psyllium husk (pure fiber) - mix with drink, mix with yogurt/fruit, smoothie

SNACKS (these are some I typically choose from)

fresh fruits

pistachio nuts, almonds or dry roasted peanuts
peanut butter

fresh salsa with pure corn chips
frozen fruits

salmon packs
homemade fruit, nut & grain bars

LUNCH (eat as much greens you can , 1 heavy grain, 1 protein)

beans (red, black or Edamame)

vegetables (dark green vegetables)

salad (natural dressing balsamic vinegar & olive oil)

salmon or chicken (choose 1)

DINNER (high protein, high greens/low-carb veggies, low grains; similar to lunch)

tacos with ground turkey (extra lean)

fresh chicken salad (homemade dressing)

bean salad

Couscous or quinoa salad

Large green smoothie with tofu

Sweets can be had in moderation, but try to keep it all-natural (low amount of ingredients) - I usually have fruit and a bit of dark chocolate to satisfy my sweet tooth.

#earthgrownfoods
#cravenutrition
#truenutrition
#trulynatural 
#nutritionandwellness 

Now if you are a diet dropout, get back in, but try the all-natural, truly nutritious way!

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Thanks for reading,