Happy Wednesday! I decided for today's post I was going to tell you about my diet. To clarify, because I hate the word diet, the way I'm eating is not a diet to lose weight or anything like that, but is my lifestyle of eating. I just needed to clear that up because I feel like that word can be taken the wrong way. ANYWAY.
If you follow me on Instagram then you most likely know that I don't eat dairy. I stopped eating dairy over three years ago when a few people I followed on Instagram mentioned the benefits of it (clear skin, less bloating, more energy, etc.). It wasn't something that happened overnight and was definitely a process. If you're interested in giving up dairy I actually have a blog post about my guide to being dairy free and includes my favorite DF products. I HIGHLY recommend it. It's truly a game changer and I have friends who have also given up dairy who would agree.
Next up, food combining. If you read my post about my favorite health/wellness influencers then you know about Kenzie Burke. Love her. I will briefly summarize food combining, but I recommend checking her out for more details. BASICALLY you only eat fruit in the morning on an empty stomach for optimal digestion, but bananas and coconut you can eat at any time. Weird, I know, but okay. As far as your proteins, starches and veggies go, for optimal digestion you would eat them like this: proteins & vegetables OR starches & vegetables NOT proteins & starches. There's a lot more to it than what I'm writing here, but apparently these food categories have different digestion rates and can cause bloating if they are eaten out of that pairing. It sounds like nonsense, but let me tell you that I felt great eating like this. I did this more when I was still eating chicken, beef and pork because they are heavier products. Now I really just follow the fruit in the AM. Because of how I eat now I don't follow this as strictly as I used to, but you'll read more about that shortly.
Eating plant based. This is my latest and greatest food endeavor and is by far my favorite lifestyle of eating. The Harvard definition of a plant based diet is a diet focused on foods primarily from plants. This includes not only fruits and vegetables, but also nuts, seeds, oils, whole grains, legumes and beans. It doesn’t mean that you are vegetarian or vegan and never eat meat or dairy. Rather, you are proportionately choosing more of your foods from plant sources. Now that I've shared that, I will tell you how I personally go about plant based eating. I am still dairy free and I do not eat chicken, beef or pork. I think this is why people think that I'm vegan. I love vegan food and always opt for the vegan options when available, but I will occasionally eat fish and eggs. I don't necessarily go out of my way to do so, but there are rare occasions when I'm out to dinner that I'll get salmon. There's also times where I'll eat eggs from Will's family's chickens. I was never a big egg person anyway, so yeah.
Overview:
As far as what I do eat, basically any and all fruits, vegetables, grains legumes, etc. I still start my mornings with hot lemon water and if I'm going to have fruit I do it in the morning post lemon water. Fruit doesn't usually hold me over until lunch (unless it's a protein smoothie) so I usually eat another breakfast around 10/10:30AM. As far as the rest of the day goes, I usually eat light to heavy with my lightest meal being breakfast and my heaviest and most filling being dinner. The whole food combining thing doesn't really pertain to my lifestyle as much as it used to because I don't have any problems eating tofu/tempeh or any other plant protein with starches. I'm not sure if it's because it's lighter and essentially a plant, but that's the deal with that. I do snack and love it and yes, I do eat dessert. Sweet Loren's cookies have my heart. I usually eat dinner between 5:30PM-7:30PM and won't eat anything after 8:30PM. I finish every day with a cup of lemon ginger tea before bed.
This might sound like a lot to you and it might even seem excessive, but like I said this isn't a diet for me this is a lifestyle of eating! I love it and feel the best I ever have!