We’re not picky eaters, we’re just particular eaters!
I have been trying to encapsulate my answer to people’s
incessant question, “How did you do it?!” when
they find out that, since we’ve been married, Jack has lost over 50
pounds(!!). Everyone assumes that
I keep him on a strict diet at home, and they want to know the secret
ingredients. The truth is, it
stems from many things.
First, we exercise
together regularly. We jog a 5K
outside by the beach most days a week.
We also enjoy going on long bike rides together, hiking local trails
on weekends, and occasionally playing tennis on the courts right down the
street from our home. Nothing too
crazy or vigorous; just consistent, moderate outdoor workouts.
Second, he was sent to the E.R. for diabetes earlier this
year and after a scare like that, he has really reformed his outlook on food. He is very disciplined at avoiding sweets, starches, and carbs. People think that I am depriving him,
but I will offer him a bite of my treat and he always refuses! Its all
him! I’m so proud!
But perhaps most important is the way we regularly eat. You can be on the treadmill for hours and it won’t make up
for a giant milkshake, double meat/double cheese burger, and extra large chili
cheese fries. We rarely eat out,
and that alone saves him countless calories (and dollars). Mindfully preparing our own food
means that he gets a lot more produce and nutrient dense “slow food” rather
than gross, high carb, hidden sugar, GMO, pesticide-laden fast food.
The particular way that we have been eating for nearly the
past year is full of purpose. Each
area of focus has a medical or nutritional reason. We joke that we have the medical records of an 80-year old
couple, even though we are newlyweds with an averaged age of 35. Here is how our health profiles
influence what we consume:
Diabetes ---no sugar added, low
glycemic, low carb
Hypertension ---low sodium, no
processed foods
Cancer ---all natural, no canned
food, high in
antioxidants, avoid soy and sugar
Brain Trauma ---fatty fish, natural
fats, DHA and Omegas
Wheat sensitivity ---gluten free
Here are some of our RULES for the market:
1) Mostly Pescatarian—wild
caught seafood, eggs, and whole fat dairy. We do have the occasional organic, free-range poultry—
usually when its on sale and we are weary of fish for a minute. We eat all kinds of seafood—lobster,
crab, scallops, mussels, clams (most of which we can get fresh and local as New
Englanders! Lots of shellfish
comes from our very own city of residence!). When we eat fish, it is always fatty fish, as in, NO TILAPIA.
Bleh. (Watch this video and
you’ll think its gross, too…) Hubby is allergic to white fish
(cod, trout, tilapia) and so we mostly eat fish like Ahi tuna and salmon—always wild caught in the US or Canada.
2) High Fat, Low Carb
Yep, we eat lots of oil, nuts,
seeds, and even butter—ain’t nothin’ wrong with organic, unsalted, cultured
butter! Yes, the newest research
has been confirming again and again that fat –even animal-based saturated
fat—does not make you fat!* Look it up if you don’t believe me.
Low glycemic index
No
juice. No more than 2 servings of
fruit daily.
Yams
> Potatoes
Quinoa
> Rice
Buckwheat
> Wheat
No
sugar added
No
artificial sweeteners. No natural
sweeteners, for that matter!
3) Gluten Free. What few grains we do eat are whole
grain and naturally free of gluten.
Buckwheat
groats, quinoa, GF oats. Organic brown rice cakes or crackers
Most
baked goods I make are with almond meal and/or coconut flour, so they’re grain free
anyway. Paleo recipes are okay
because they are typically low carb, but they are absolutely stuffed with
coconut sugar (still adds sugar, people!!), which I simply omit from the
recipe, and maybe add an extra banana, or extra spices for flavor and just let
a bread be a bread, not a sweet bread—if
you catch my drift.
4) Nothing artificial
at all.
5) Organic
produce, unless it has a thick peel and is known to be pesticide resistant,
like bananas and grapefruit. Watch
out especially for the Dirty Dozen!
This includes organic eggs and dairy.
6) Local whenever
possible. We have enjoyed picking
our own fruit at local farms this summer.
7) Seasonal,
except select super-produce that we can’t go without (berries, avocado, banana)
Some other food rules we follow include:
1) Store in glass containers, even glass water bottles.
2) Nothing from cans.
All beans and legumes are rehydrated on the stove. All tomato sauce is homemade from fresh
tomatoes, fresh garlic, and oil; or from organic sauce sold in glass jars.
So what do we eat when we’re hungry?
Jack recognized early on that what he thought was hunger,
was actually thirst. As such, we
drink lots and lots of filtered water.
I also like to keep homemade iced herbal teas in the fridge at all
times.
(Iced mint and lemongrass tea, chopped mint leaves, the zest and juice of 2 limes. Mojito tea!)
(Iced Mango-Hibiscus tea with chopped peaches we picked)
Snacks:
¼
c of raw, unsalted mixed nuts
slice
of organic extra sharp cheddar
hard
boiled egg (free range, with Omegas)
Up
to 1 cup of fresh berries
Homemade
hummus with carrots and cucumber slices
Guacamole
with broccoli florets or bell peppers
Garlic-stuffed
green olives
Wild
caught sardines on an organic brown rice cake (Jack loves sardines—a man after Grandma’s heart!)
Breakfast:
Usually
eggs with extra egg whites made in a scramble, omelette, or frittata with
garlic, veggies, cheese, and organic salsa.
But
if that carb-craving mood comes at breakfast, I have made waffles out of almond
meal, spices, eggs, and coconut oil before, or made the following--
A)
Creamy buckwheat hot cereal with cocoa powder, walnuts, and chia seeds.
B) Organic Berries; topped with a mix of GF oats,
almond meal, ground flaxseed and hemp seed, spices, and coconut oil. Baked.
Both
generously topped with plain whole milk organic yogurt. (Trader Joe’s European
style is my go-to. Jack prefers So Delicious Unsweetened Vanilla Coconut
Milk yogurt because it contains no grams of sugar from lactose.) This second recipe is a great examples
of how we simply omit the sugar or even honey called for in regular or “Paleo” recipes. If a recipe has a bunch of fruit in it,
then why are you adding a bunch of sugar, too?
We like to make an almond meal/buckwheat flour banana nut bread, sweetened
only with mashed bananas. It is
excellent! Doing it this way
boasts the food’s natural flavor and eliminates unnecessary sweeteners of all
kinds, even so-called “natural” sweeteners.
Here's an unsweetened spiced quick bread recipe of my own making-- a blend of carrot cake and paleo banana bread, without added sugars. The carrots were from our farm share. I believe I used a blend of Almond Meal and some other gluten free whole grain. Topped with Neufchatel cheese. We finished the whole loaf within 3 days!
Our Weekly Essentials Grocery List:
(I re-stock these
weekly!)
Unsalted
Nuts
Avocado
or guacamole
Cheeses
Tons
of vegetables (almost exclusively from our CSA)
Eggs
(organic, free-range, omega rich diet)
Plain
yogurt
This summer we have a CSA (community supported agriculture)
farm share from our nearest farm.
Just as an example, we carried out the following from this local farm
just in the past two weeks:
Peaches
Blueberries
Arugula
Bok Choy
Onions
Corn on the Cob
Purple Beets
Scallions
Yukon Gold Potatoes
Garlic
Collard Greens
Boston lettuce
Broccoli
Eggplant
Peppers
Cucumbers
Roma Beans
Tatsoi
This obviously really
helps us to up our veggie consumption, and helps us try some different things.
Some farm share experimental recipes:
(Cheesy Kohlrabi Latkes)
("Mac and Greens" Yam noodles with collard greens baked in homemade cheddar sauce)
(Succotash salad with corn, black beans, cucumbers, a spoon of salsa, oil, vinegar, spices)
(Blanched zucchini noodles and garlic scrapes in homemade tomato sauce with fresh basil and parmesan)
Some of Jack’s favorite dinners
recently have been things like this:
Local soft-shell crab soaked in homemade buttermilk, dredged
in almond meal or coconut flour + cayenne, and pan fried in avocado oil. We serve this with something like a
cole slaw made with chopped napa cabbage, shredded carrots, shaved radishes,
toasted sesame seeds, feta cheese, and vinaigrette.
Sauteed shrimp and garlic (and whatever leftover veggies we
have, like bell pepper strips) with blanched zucchini noodles, in a light sauce
of tahini, olive oil, salt + pepper + cumin, and lemon juice.
Boiled lobster tails (Costco road show!) with melted butter,
wrapped in Boston lettuce leaves with avocado slices and red cabbage
strips. Very summery served with a
little salad of watermelon, mint, and feta.
Farm share eggplant, sliced and dunked in avocado oil + egg
white, dredged in almond meal and spices, cooked in air fryer until browned. Served over a bowl of homemade tomato
sauce, topped with Asiago and Parmesan cheeses. (I don’t like eggplant, but this was delicious!)
Now, I do eat a little bit of high quality dark chocolate on
most days, because it is possible I could lose my mind without it ;) Occasionally I get a hankering for a (small) drizzle of local honey, which is okay. And of course, we cheat now and
again—he will have a nice bison burger served over greens maybe with a small serving of sweet potato fries, I have an ice cream cone
from our neighborhood shop—but we have been enjoying the way we are eating so
much, and we have seen such positive results, that it is not very difficult to
say no to “regular” foods. We earnestly stick to our plan at least 90% of the time, and don't get too upset about when we struggle.
And that, my friends, is how you lose over 50 pounds in less
than a year without going to a gym, without purchasing a meal plan, without
counting calories, and without going on The
Biggest Loser. Good luck!
ADDITIONAL REQUIRED READING:
*Grain Brain,
David Perlmutter
-A
high fat and even high cholesterol
diet does not hurt your heart, rather, it helps your brain!!
In Defense of Food,
Michael Pollan
-Eat food, not food-like products
