I wanted to share my idea of a well balanced meal.
I've got two chicken sausages made with spinach and garlic (and if you know me, you know they are all natural haha), half a plate of asparagus cooked in olive oil, lemon juice and black pepper. Got a little dollop of mustard there, too. This was dinner at about 6 o'clock in the evening, I'll be having a snack of grapes (organic, since they are BIG offenders on the dirty dozen list) and that will be my food for the evening.
Simple, clean, reasonable.
Protein from lean meat, carbs from vegetables, fat from healthy oils.
Protein from lean meat, carbs from vegetables, fat from healthy oils.
Stop over-thinking!
Don't make meals or snacks or FOOD in general more complicated than it needs to be.
As far as simplifying food and your life, thought I would share this chart about portion sizes, for those of us who just don't want to bother with the time and mess of measuring cups and whatnot. I think one of the biggest problems a lot of Americans have is understanding what a REAL portion size is, what amount of food they actually need to eat to maintain health.
 |
| See the thumb portion for peanut butter? Goes for all nut butters. Soooo easy to over do it - but be careful, that thumb is 170 calories!!! |
I, myself, had a huge problem with portion sizes (and still do if I don't keep honest with myself) - I would eat three or four pieces of pizza, even though I stopped being hungry after 1 1/2 slices. I would eat 3 portions of pasta because it was YUM. I would eat 3 - 4 tablespoons of peanut butter because I couldn't stop.
Portion sizes are much less of a problem for me, now, because I can eat as much fruit and vegetables as I want... and all I eat for most of the day is fruit and vegetables! I take a moment before putting meat on my plate, eyeing out the portion size and what I REALLY need. Same thing with nuts, nut butters or my yogurt products. Anything that I could tend to overdo it on, I just take a moment to decide what's reasonable and put the rest away.
Let's all get real with ourselves, what we are eating and how much we are eating.
I really want everyone out there to succeed in their goals and rock optimum health.
So start getting honest, don't trick yourself out of the most awesome life you can have.
Oh, yeah, and I am down to 123.6 - lost about a .8 from yesterday. If I hadn't indulged in alcohol and chips this weekend, I'd be right near goal by now! Well, like I said, I am not perfect, but I am working on being better :)
Love you all, Namaste <3
"So start getting honest, don't trick yourself out of the most awesome life you can have." AMEN! Great reference chart!
ReplyDeleteI love this, Leigh. We sometimes have the most uncanny ways of pulling the wool over our own eyes, and ultimately, the joke is on us!
DeleteGREAT reference chart! I am nothing without my food scale; cheese and nuts -even eaten and weighed often- are still so calorie dense it's just hard to 'eyeball.'
ReplyDeleteYou are doing great!
Love the charts! When I'm at home, I still measure everything in measuring cups or measuring bowls, or weigh it on my food scale. Sometimes I test myself and eyeball what I think is a serving of peanut butter on a spoon, then weigh it to see how close my eyeball skills are, and at this point I'm usually right on within a gram or two.
ReplyDeleteBut this is fantastic when out and about or you don't have time to measure in a cup or scale. Thanks girl!
Very helpful post. At home, I can use a cup and a scale, but I don't do that in a restaurant. However, there are weight loss groups that have measuring in a restaurant as a requirement for having a sponsor in their program. ...never could do that!
ReplyDeleteGreat post Jeanette! I think a lot of people don't have a clue how to calculate true portion sizes so those charts are so handy! One of the ways I control portions is to use a 9 inch plate. I put all the huge 11 inch supper plates in a high cupboard to gather dust :)
ReplyDeleteExcellent post :) Like others have said, it's good to have as a reference especially when we're out and about. At home I have my food scale, because although I can judge a portion size using these means, I'm prone to inflation... I know because I checked! So at home, best for me to just weigh that stuff out LOL
ReplyDeleteJust stumbled across your blog and it's great! Love this post. I'm going to print the guide and tape it to my fridge.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to reading more!
tatlockstruth.blogspot.com