Day 7 of 365: Changing My Eating Habits

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I realize, glancing back at the first post for the 365 Project, I missed one thing on my goals.  When I mentioned workouts, I forgot to mention that “eating healthy” went with that, too.  In my mind, those two lifestyle choices go hand-in-hand:  if I workout, but eat poorly, I’m not going to have good results.  If I eat well, but don’t workout, I still don’t feel my best.  It’s mentioned in the “Today’s Stats” section of each post, but, I never showed it as an actual goal.

 

The eating well portion is actually the most successful portion of the last seven days, which is nice 🙂  I actually started slightly before the New Year started, by replacing my breakfasts.

 

One of the big lifestyle choices was to quit taking multi-vitamins entirely, and handle the same functions using proper foods.  My thinking was that uptake of most nutrients has always been best with the actual food, not the supplements – and, recent articles are starting to possibly point out that multi-vitamins may be a waste of money.  However, I’d need to see more studies on it to really say it’s good or bad.  But, most things taken in their “natural state” would seem to me to be the best choice.

 

Which means I sat out to produce breakfasts and lunches that are as nutrient rich as I can stand.

 

The other lifestyle choice was going back to rice.  For some reason, I’ve always lost weight when dealing with a rice based diet (not instant rice, real stuff you have to cook.)  There’s always been an association for me, and I’m not completely sure why.  It could be the bulk -vs- calories issue, or it could be some sort of need for a food that’s got a decent glycemic index.  I’m not sure.  But, the association is there.

 

So, breakfast is a hodgepodge of rice, kale, carrots, cabbage, beef, olive oil, and mushrooms.  About a cup and a half gives me a pretty good combination of stuff in there already.  I top it off with a medium cooked egg and a generous dose of Sriracha (while the egg provides protein, choline, and a few other things, I’m not aware of any particular health benefits of Sriracha.  It’s just yummy. 🙂  I pre-cook it all, and throw it in containers in the fridge, and part of it in the freezer.  That means I don’t have to do much work for a pretty solid meal – nuke it, and cook an egg at the same time that I cook one for my wife 🙂

 

Lunch has evolved into a similar setup, though there’s going to be a lot more variation to it.  Each time I make a batch, I’m going to change up what I throw in there.  It’s cheap – what appears to be about a week and a half’s costs around $25, so a good per-meal cost – and it’s easy.  I cook it in the crockpot ahead of time, just like breakfasts, and store it.  This cycle’s combination is:  rice, quinoa (experimenting with blending the two in the same dish – pretty tasty!), turkey, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and a little bit of peanut sauce for extra flavor.  Oh, and Sriracha (really, I don’t get tired of that stuff.)  And, since it’s all pre-cooked, it encourages me to eat at home – I don’t think “dang, I should have started cooking something an hour ago” and go out to eat.  It’s faster just to have something here to nuke 🙂

 

Supper isn’t that different from the stuff I’ve been making for Kat and I for a while: a rotation of beef, chicken, or fish, with a side veggie.

 

One of the key things, too, is portion control.  I reduced my portions considerably for lunch, and somewhat for supper.  And, it seems to have worked.  Kat and I went out to eat at HuHot last night for date night, and I had gotten to the point where I’d eat three plates of food there (I hate to let the buffet win.)  Last night, I ate two plates, and that was a mistake – reducing my intake has reduced my “full level”.  Right now, I don’t eat until I’m full, I try and shoot for a bit shy of that, so I’m just slightly hungry.  In a couple weeks, or maybe even a month, after I’ve reset my brains expectation of how much I need to eat, I’ll re-examine the stay hungry idea.

 

One thing you’ll notice totally lacking from my food plan:  no milk.  I discovered a while back I seem to be having issues with milk products, so, I took them off my list.  My stomach thanks me for that, and my wife thanks me for not exposing her to the side-effects I was experiencing from time to time 😉

 

So, how’s that working out?  Well, honestly, I already feel “better”.  It’s hard to describe, but, I feel “lighter”, less bloated.  Of course, I also started working out this week (not a whole lot, this is ramp-up time), so that contributes to it, too.  But, I’m gonna call it a win for now :-)[/text_output][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][line][custom_headline type=”center” level=”h2″ looks_like=”h2″ accent=”true”]Today’s Stats[/custom_headline][text_output]

 

• Workouts: 0 (I missed my workout today 🙁
• Cigarettes Smoked:  16
• Healthy Eating:  Good breakfast, good lunch, over ate good food at supper (HuHot)

Projects Worked on:

 

• Jumpman Forever Ouya integration work (and some press stuff with it)

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