Eat Good Food First

Where did the past two weeks go? Oh yes... I was scrambling to get a good grade in my Intro to Dietetics class, and my wonderful mother came to visit me from Oregon. My first real available day off, I slept until about 3pm.

Catching up on emails and articles of the past month as 5 o'clock rolls around, I come across "The Top 20 Foods You Should Be Eating." There are SO many foods we should be eating, how on earth do we eat them all? Or if you're one of the people in 2/3rds of America's population that are trying to lose weight, myself included, you wonder how you're supposed to eat and lose weight at the same time.

I tried many different experiments on myself when I began to eat more healthy and lose weight a couple years ago, but only a few things stuck. A couple of new things that I had to force myself to try ended up being so second nature to me that I hadn't really thought of them much anymore. Sometimes after a long time though, old habits sneak back in without you realizing, and then you get reminded of that simple thing that helped you a great deal in the first place.

Food is awesome. Even crappy food is awesome. How many of us would gladly eat three times as much as we do now if it meant we would still be healthy and not gain weight? Heck, I even keep eating after I'm already full, which we all know is a big no-no. I'm human just like everyone else, continuously working on fixing my flaws.

Eat good food first.
Let's go a little deeper in to this. It's more than just trying to eat healthy (or eating less if that is your healthy goal.) We have recommended daily values, and they differ depending on who we are. Instead of focusing on what you "can't" eat, focus on what you should be eating enough of, and eat those first. For myself, this includes having a goal of 30+ grams of fiber a day, and making sure I get enough of my micro-nutrients like calcium, iron, and vitamins, and macro nutrients like 100 grams of protein a day (your needs may be higher or lower.)

The point of this goal is: Try to get into your body what you already need for that day. When dinner time (or after dinner time) comes around & you see you're low on fat for the day, or carbs, it's totally fine & acceptable to have some extra cheese or glass of wine. Get in what you need first, and if you need help figuring out what that is & how to track it: www.myfitnesspal.com

Stay healthy, my friends!

~Samantha