I am a fan of healthy eating. I actually have spent the majority of my life in blissful ignorance of healthy eating. I had this monster metabolism that allowed me to binge eat (not because of emotional issues, just because food’s freaking good!) When I went to college, I was completely confident that the freshman 15 wouldn’t affect me. Not only because of my amazing metabolism, but because I don’t drink, and I had heard that alcohol was largely to blame for weight gain.
Well, I learned that I am not invincible. The freshman 15 did hit me. It really snuck up on me. I didn’t own a scale, I’d never been concerned with weighing myself before. But then it came. I was still a normal weight, but I was so used to being super slender that I felt pretty gross about myself. That’s when I started to learn more about healthy eating.
I am actually not back to my normal weight, but I’m not actively trying to reach it right now. I AM trying to eat healthier though. Here’s the diet (as in the general nutrition/eating habits sense of the word, not the trying to lose weight sense) I mostly try to adhere to.
First and foremost, I’m a vegetarian. That’s not for health reasons (though the more I learn about healthy eating and the way food is produced today, the happier I am about this choice from a health perspective.) I’m a vegetarian because of my own ethical beliefs. I’ve wanted to be one my whole life, but my parents wouldn’t really let me for the longest time, because I was small, and they didn’t apparently understand much about getting protein from sources other than meat. I went vegetarian at age 17, after transitioning. I pretty much refused to eat pigs my whole life, because I always really really loved them. I wanted one as a pet.
Like, are you kidding me?? SO CUTE.
So there was no chance I was eating that. I then gave up cow meat, and finally in my senior year of high school, I went full fledged vegetarian. My parents still aren’t cool with it, but I’m not gonna get into that now:p In any case, I’ve been vegetarian almost 3 years, and I’m very very happy with my decision:)
As for eating practices I adopted when I began my interest in nutrition a couple years ago, I no longer eat…
- High fructose corn syrup
- Trans fats/hydogenated or partially-hydrogenated oils
- Nothing fried
I try to seriously limit…
- Animal fats like butter (I’ve always been a skim milk girl anyways)
- Soy (there’s too much debate over the healthiness of soy, so I prefer to avoid it)
- Refined grains
I was also never a soda or fast food fan (lucky me), so I don’t consume those things either.
So what do I eat?
Fruits, veggies, lean proteins, whole grains, nuts.
My favorites include…
Strawberries, raspberries, grapefruit, watermelon, apples, avocado, carrots, cucumber, tomatoes, quinoa, whole grain pasta, peanut butter. I also really love cheese but try not to overdo it and always go for low-fat varieties.
Oh and I treat myself quite a bit as well. Chocolate is my thing.
Ignore my friend’s awkward hands and focus on the deliciousness.
Questions of the day:
Do you have any food rules you try to stick to?
What are your favorite healthy foods? Unhealthy foods?
Did the Freshman 15 curse you too??
xx
