A Conscious Splurge: Nutritional Challenge

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Nutritional Challenge

This week I am challenging myself on just how “healthy” my eating is. I say I eat healthy because I prepare my own meals and they’re generally organic etc., however, I do have my “favorites” and tend to repeat meals, snacks and treats. I wondered, is variety really the spice of life?!?

As it turns out it is. I found a cool online tool that I used once about 6 months ago and then didn’t make the time for after that. As it turns out my habits are that I don’t always eat enough protein or carbohydrates. Mostly my carbs come in the form of starchy veggies and fruit and protein comes from small amounts of meat and veggie sources (not soy, which is not enough). So this week I thought I’d challenge myself to learning how to correct tendencies (even when eating out). I log on to my account at: http://nutritiondata.self.com/user/login

Enter the food I ate that day, see where I stand nutritionally and know exactly how to balance it out the next day. It’s actually super helpful because I don’t spend time wondering what I should/want to eat for breakfast/lunch etc. I already know I ate too many carbs yesterday and now need more protein (or whatever). It also has a vitamin and mineral breakdown as well as natural food resources on how to obtain them, SO COOL.

If you’re interested in trying this as well (just to see for yourself) it’s super simple!

Go to the above website.
Create an account
Go to Tools
“ “ Daily needs calculator
Plug in values and select calculate then add to my tracking
Search foods by name that you ate and then add to tracking( it will automatically save to My Foods and you can reuse it to add quickly the next time you eat it.
The next day you clear all quantities and select what you ate and press save and calculate.

If you want to take a step towards this type of challenge but aren’t quite ready for the online tool (I sure wasn’t 6 months ago!) start a food journal and write very simply, like a list of what you ate. Make sure you are ready to take this step as well and your goal/ intention with this is clear (treats are not to feel guilty about eating as a food journal is not kept to fell bad about yourself in anyway but just to bring awareness to tendencies and habits that would otherwise go unnoticed).

Or maybe choose one area that you'd like to work on. It took me a couple months to figure out essential fatty acids, why I need them and why I should care about appropriate ratios of consumption. (I'll post more on this later if anyone is interested).

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What are raw, macrobiotic and vegan foods?

My style of cooking and preparing food is very unique. It combines traditional American cooking and incorporates raw, vegan and macrobiotic principals. What these three have in common is that they all (respectively) use whole unprocessed ingredients to create beautiful meals and basically guilt free and seriously delicious desserts.
One day I'll have my own restaurant and our slogan will be "Come for the dessert, stay for dinner!"

Raw foods are minimally processed foods where the internal temperature of the food does not go above 115 degrees (to preserve the nutrition of the food as it is presented in it's raw form). There are different types of "raw food-ists"; raw-vegan (no dairy or animal products), raw vegetarians (just like it sounds. This diet relies heavily on a wide variety of veggies, fruits, seeds and nuts. Raw foods are best for my body in the spring and summer time. They provide amazing amounts of vitamins, minerals, fiber and even protein!
Macrobiotic foods "emphasize locally grown whole grain cereals, pulses (legumes), vegetables, seaweed, fermented soy products and fruit, combined into meals according to the principle of balance (known as yin and yang). Whole grains and whole-grain products such as brown rice and buckwheat pasta (soba), a variety of cooked and raw vegetables, beans and bean products, mild natural seasonings, fish, nuts and seeds, mild (non-stimulating) beverages such as bancha twig tea and fruit are recommended. I cook macrobiotic-ally year round. I use this type of cooking to keep or promote balance in my body. Vegan Foods are similar to vegetarian and emphasize again grains, fruits and vegetables, pasta, etc. with out the use of any animal products (no dairy, butter, cheese, etc.) Die hard or "ethical" vegans do not use ANY type of animal products whatsoever.