I constantly get asked "What do you eat?" "Are you a vegetarian?" "Are you really strict?" "You must eat really healthy!" It is just such a mystery to most people who meet me how a female can look muscular and defined and still actually eat anything at all.
My view of my own regimen is that I essentially follow the food pyramid (how dull) but in a creative way. I am an avid snoop in most Asian Markets, but like Greek, and Middle Eastern foods and ingredients.
I drive from gym to gym teaching classes and am very active all day. So, it is not practical to eat large amounts all at once. I eat throughout the day similar to what is recommended to diabetics. It keeps the blood sugar level and avoids triggering the bodies compulsiveness to store/hoard fat in case of future famine.
We live in an era of over abundance. That means we have access to everything and anything 24/7. I eat strategically as the author of "Die Fat or Get Tough" lists as the difference between the overweight and the fit. Overweight people are indulging frustration, sadness, loneliness, and feelings of inadequacy. I experience loneliness, frustration, sadness and feelings of inadequacy but do not want to be overweight.
If I am lonely, frustrated, sad and feeling inadequate, why would I want to add to my problems!? So I put fitness first and chose my foods appropriately.
So, what do I eat? I intentionally target an array of foods and rotate them. I think everything is game; i.e canned, dried, fresh, frozen and prepared. I favor baby carrots and soy milk for car snacks. I buy whole grain crackers and nato (fermented soy beans.)
We rotate all the meats at dinner time and take turns making dinner. That means pork, chicken, beef, salmon, tilapia, white fish and tofu. Eggs are great!
Salads contain a rotation of 8+ ingredients. That includes red cabbage, onions, red onions, green peppers, jalapenos, garbanzos, parsley, mint, arugala, basil, ginger, garlic. We rotate the vinegars. That would be rice vinegar, red wine vinegar, balsamic, white vinegar. We rotate and mix olive oils, canola oil, sesame oil and others.
We have wine or beer with dinner. We rotate the starches: potatoes, noodles, rice, and bread.
I buy the medleys with carrots, cauliflower and carrots. I buy the frozen medleys with carrots, peas, corn and green beans. We rotate the potatoes, white, brown, red, sweet potatoes. We rotate the rices brown rice, basmati rice, long and short grain.
I buy nut mixes and mixes of dried fruits.
The trick is to get a little of all the foods, not too much of any one thing. (duh.) You play the ratios against each other. How do you get legumes, nuts, fruit, vegetables, milk products, meats and starches all into a week if you fill up on 2 categories. You can't! You have to eat a little of everything and be very creative about it. A lot of diets keep you from eating certain foods or groups of foods, because you "CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!" They think they can't get you to stay under a caloric limit if you have too much freedom. Maybe they are right. But personally managing freedom intellligently IS the challenge. You can't eat too much of anyone category or individual food if you intend to hit all the food groups and rotate all the kinds of foods in that group.
I eat yogurt almost every morning and every night for dessert. I put half and half or evaporated milk in my coffee and never sugar.
I eat only if I am hungry and stop when I am full.
We favor Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants. We eat pizza from a healthy place called Purgatory Pizza up to three times a month. We order Tacos from El Michoacan. I like the Sopes.
We shop at Trader Joe's. Food For Ledss, Cost Co, Vons, Ralphs, Jons, The Vietnamese Market on Sunset, The Korean Market in J-Town. We rotate the shopping.
And I avoid supplements, because they just make people you will never meet very wealthy. Eat real food, shop and cook.
Get enough exercise. Don't OVEREAT. Don't drink sugared drinks! Eat a balanced array of foods that includes many cultures ingredients. Plan ahead - always carry healthy snacks! Use your head. Good Luck!
