Another ramble about diets, eating habits and some MORE changes I have made for a healthier lifestyle.

Me two years ago: Hello I’m a foodie who will eat absolutely anything, I am on a budget so food costs are low, I eat a lot of pizza and drink a lot of wine

Me one year ago: Hello I’m a vegetarian, I want to just eat as cheaply as possible and stay healthy. I like pizza but I now eat lots of salad.

Me 6 months ago: Hello I now buy things like organic apples and ground flax seeds, I drink smoothies for breakfast….with kale in them…. and I want to spend more money on food for my health. I still like pizza but now I make things like “Vegan pizzas”.

Me 2 weeks ago: Hello I’m a vegetarian who is mainly a vegan and  I now buy things like hemp milk, I rarely eat pizza and I have been told I’m low on protein in my current diet

Me today: Hello I’m a vegetarian, I drink smoothies for breakfast….with kale, and cashews, and flax and hemp in them…..I spend more money on food than anything else (except rent), I tend to write down everything I eat whilst I am trying to make good habits stick and I have been looking at recipes for “Raw pizza”

Because when I started as a vegetarian I was on a big diet I was in the frame of mind that snacking on apples= good idea, snacking on nuts= bad idea. It was a purely calorie counting exercise without thinking about whether it meant my body was getting what it needed. Sure I lost loads of weight but I was always hungry and also it would lead to binges of bad foods because I’d feel deprived. I also felt that keeping my meals as simple as possible = good idea, adding things like flax seeds, sprouted beans, nutritional yeast etc = bad idea because in my mind that was just an added cost and a bit of a diet fad.

I’ve learnt so much over the last year but I can’t help thinking that I’m seriously over thinking my own diet and I really want to get back to basics! I went to see a dietician/ personal trainer last week who asked me to keep a food diary for the week before hand. I went in feeling pretty smug because I’d had tonnes of fruit and veg that week and not many snacks. The guy took a red pen and a blue pen and he said the red would represent all of my carbs/sugars and the blue pen would represent all of the protein and things like dark greens.

Well my whole page was red except for one morning of eggs, the greens in my smoothies and a bean stew I had for dinner one night. I realised that I have been literally just eating vegetables and carbs and thinking that I was super healthy (vegetable soup and bread, vegetable stew and rice, vegetable sauce and pasta etc etc!). I also ate far too much sugar from fruits so I have had to pick and choose my snacks more sensibly. He showed me some examples of meals where I could improve, for example:

Breakfast: 
Before – Smoothie with banana, soya milk, spinach, strawberries, blueberries
Now – Smoothie with hemp milk, spinach, strawberries, blueberries, 2 tablespoons ground flax and a handful soaked cashew nuts.

Before – Scrambled eggs with toast and ketchup
Now – Scrambled eggs with a big portion of stir fried kale, tomatoes, paprika and chilli

In my lunches I have been adding things like lentil dip or seeds and white beans and for dinner I have cut out the refined carbs by eating more bean based meals with lots of dark greens and colourful veg and the occasional portion of wild rice or sweet potato wedges. I’ve been doing this for approx 2 weeks now and I do feel great, I’m not hungry and I have actually maintained a weight loss. I feel like just tripping it back to basics has helped me, now I just think “Ok this meal contains some protein, something green, something with good fats and not too many carbs”.

I have also been snacking on almonds and walnuts to help keep away any afternoon cravings and this is another way of getting some good proteins, fats and nutrients into my day.

I think having an understanding of food is important but I found myself reading so many conflicting opinions and diet options and foods we should/ shouldn’t eat that I just got lost in it all and ended up eating things that if I had just stood back from all the reading I wouldn’t normally eat. As a vegetarian everyone goes on about protein and I’ve read plenty of vegetarian articles showing how “loads of things have protein in them” and “how easy it can be to eat a lot of protein” which is all true, but you have to know what to eat, understand the different food groups and eat a variety of foods in order to get the right amount of protein.

Learning about food is a life long process and one I plan to enjoy as I go so I never beat myself up about a bad week or worry too much about whether my choices now are the best I can make for myself because in the future I know I will still be making choices, worrying about the environment and having bad weeks of junk food! The thing I do make sure I think about is whether I am moving forward in the right direction or not. For me these small changes I have made over the last two weeks are just another step in the right direction

A Balanced Diet for a Balanced Well being

In August 2011 I read an article about badger culling and how it is common practise to protect cattle from TB. Then I had a bit of an argument with my friend about it as we both had very different view points on the subject, and I haven’t eaten meat since that afternoon! It was that quick a decision! I think everyone was a bit confused when I announced my decision because although everyone knows I care about animals and the environment I had not been very vocal on any thoughts of vegetarianism. My decision wasn’t about the badgers but instead it was the realisation that I was complacently eating meat without knowing all of the facts behind it. I decided that while I was learning the facts I would take myself completely out of the game and not risk eating anything which may upset me later on.

I didn’t give much thought to what I would need to eat differently or how it may affect my health later on in life. I thought the whole protein concerns were just carnivores trying to put me off and I had no intention of spending money on expensive whole food alternatives as I honestly just thought that the extra fruit and vegetables would keep me going. As many vegetarians will agree I think it is only since going vegetarian and taking responsibility for my food choices that I’ve begun to take a bigger interest in my health, in the background of my food and in the balance we need within our diets to stay healthy.

It’s not just vegetarians who need to be careful with their diet but everyone should be aiming for an overall better balance of health and a better understanding of what our bodies need. I started using an online programme called “My Fitness Pal” which tracks not only the calories but also the carbs and protein of your diet, and I was interested to see how I am reguarly low on my protein and high on my carb intake! I had swapped meat for carbs without even realising it – especially at the weekends! Even though I eat a lot of fruit and vegetables it doesn’t mean I’m the pinnacle of a healthy vegetarian and I am now realising this. I spoke to my mum at the weekend about my concerns as she was vegetarian for a long time and she told me she had been concerned about her protein levels – especially as she got very ill resulting in a life saving operation.

The only way I can think to describe what I thought about protein is to compare it to a conversation with my granddad the other day. We were driving through a deep puddle down a country lane and he kept saying “slow down, slow down you’ll flood the engine” and I had no idea what he meant. I said “oh I thought you just drive slowly through puddles so that you don’t swerve to one side” and he explained about the water splashing up under the car and how it could cut out the engine! Well similarly I thought not eating enough protein meant I might just be a bit tired or something but actually you could end up writing yourself off and shutting down your engine. Well ok that’s a silly comparison but you know what I mean!

So over this next month, and probably continually for the rest of my life, I want to learn more about what exactly it is that our body needs, why it needs it and how I can get it without breaking the bank! (I should probably learn a little bit about cars too!!). I like being someone who can share vegetarian ideas which are accessible and appealing to a mass market as I think some people look at the long list of ingredients in a lot of vegan/ vegetarian food and get put off. But I also want to be aware of providing the best balance of simplicity and vitality that I can.

I used to roll my eyes at the whole protein debate but now I’m jumping right in and making sure we are all aware of the vital part protein plays in our diet. I have come up with a few easy ways to get a bit of protein in our diets which I will be sharing over the next few weeks and also I will be sharing an evaluation on my own diet and any changes I may be making myself!

Any help/ opinions from my fellow bloggers is always welcome, I have found so many sources of inspiration since beginning to blog and I feel I have so many people to learn from. As Dr. Wayne W. Dyer said “The highest form of ignorance is to reject something you know nothing about” something we should all keep in our minds when making choices for our health.