preface:
Wow! I’ve done it again! I’ve set such an aggressive goal that I may have made it unrealistic. For anyone who knows me, I am always, go, go, go. I often take on too many projects and things at home usually suffer for it.
I’ve set such an aggressive goal of blogging, exercising and eating nutritiously that I’m spending all my free time researching. Laundry and household cleaning are not getting done. Although I don’t mind not doing the work (who wouldn’t give that up), but since I’m not doing it it’s not getting done.
So I’ve taken a step back and I’m slightly modifying the challenge to myself.
- I will still be eating nutritiously for 21 days
- I will be exercising, not daily—it’s just not going to happen if I want to put time into my blog and keep the house respectable
- I will be blogging regularly, but I can’t promise daily, all I can promise is several times a week
OK hears the real article!
The good stuff that will get you eating nutritiously!
I went to see a nutritionist today!
Yep that’s right, called my insurance provider and found out dietitians (or dietician as some spell it) are covered. S
o I called and went. It was great to talk to someone about it wanting to get tips on healthy eating habits. Because, lets face it…when looking on the internet you will find one site that say xyz is good for you, while a second site you read says no xyz is not as good as people think.
What I got from my nutritionist was a few simple hand-outs to help me plan my day for meals. She knew with kids, work and everything else I wouldn’t have time for a food diary or for counting calories, so I received a guideline of what should be in each meal and approximately how much.
What I learned is that (using a 9″ plate) for lunch and dinner half the plate should be vegetable, 1/4 plate should contain your carbohydrates and 1/4 should contain your protein (with skin trimmed off). I also found out that Potato, corn, peas, squash, and baked beans are considered carbohydrates, NOT a vegetable in this meal format. You also should add a fresh fruit on the side and a glass of skim or 1% milk. You want to have at least 2 glasses of milk and servings of fresh fruit a day
Using the suggested format gives you about 450 calories per meal if you prepare the food with a little fat as possible.
Also, Breakfast is very important to eat, it gets the metabolism going. You would eat your 1/4 plate carbohydrates and your protein. Suggested on my hand-out is whole grain cereal with fat free or low fat milk or Whole grain toast (2 slices) maybe with some peanut butter. So my task this weekend is to get an idea of the meals I want to cook, for dinner as well as figure out what I need to add to my lunches to fit to the meal plan. I don’t mind, I have been trying to get better at evening meal planning so this just means I need to plan the whole day. According to the dietitian, I can have the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day if I want…it will simplify the meal plans.
Before I end today, I want to leave you with a few other things my dietitian told me.
- When snacking, make sure you are eating because you are hungry and not because you are bored or stressed, ect.
- Make a rule to always eat at the table…it may help you decide you really aren’t as hungry as you thought and it will help your body not to send hunger signals in times of stress or boredom
- To avoid snacking while cooking dinner pop a mint in your mouth or chew on sugar-free gum
