My Thoughts On Healthy Nutrition

I often get questions about what I eat and how to eat healthy. There is no quick and simple answer to this but want to try at least. Maybe I won't be able to tell all in a one post but I will give some tips now and then try to give others on later posts.

First I want to tell more about what prompted me to start to think about more what I eat because I didn't always eat that great either. Few years ago, before I hurt my back, I used to eat whatever I wanted to and I didn't exercise at all (I hated sweating). Then I ruptured my disc because I fell flat on my back on ice.
Since there is no medical way to correct the rupture (I have seen many doctors, specialist and physical therapist), I was told to strengthen my core muscles because strong muscles would help me to keep my posture good and help the bad disc to do its' job.

So, I started to work out regularly. First I switched from taking the bus to work, to walking or biking to work. Then I started to attend to a workout class once a week. I also realized that streching every other night helped a lot. After working out about a year, I started to feel better. I was stronger and a lot more flexible than ever before. But it really took a year of working out.
I always try to tell people not to stop exercising after a month because it is not enough time to see results. At least for me it took time before I noticed a difference and actually started liking to work out. Now I can't live without doing some sort of sport.

After I got into working out, I got interested about nutrition as well. I wanted to know what I could eat to support my newly found muscles and what foods would keep me feeling energized. I started to watch TV programs about nutrition (for example: Gillian McKeith's You are what you eat) and to read books about healthy eating. I will be doing a post later on about the best health books that I have found so far. I don't want to put so many new things on this post because this is already long enough. For right now I will just post things that I have figured to have helped me.

When I was in high school I tried different things to lose weight. I was on the hospital diet. Which means a huge pot full of this soup that has lots of water, cabbage, onions and celery. It is called the hospital diet because that is what they give to the patients who need to lose weight before surgery. It is very low in calories and is supposed to burn fat.

It didn't work for me. I hated the soup and till this day I still don't like the taste or smell of celery. Since the soup didn't work, I went a year without candy. That was tough! But it was actually good for my body and teeth but not for my mental health.

So, after many stupid failed attempts to lose weight I have come to conclusion that it should never be about losing weight or not eating certain things. It should be about living your life healthy and enjoying it. It is a lifestyle, not a diet.

I believe eating everything in moderation. I have carbs (good carbs, not bad) every single day, I make sure that I get protein as well, I eat fat (I usually use olive oil, coconut oil and butter) and I load up on vegetables, berries and fruit. I understand that what works for me doesn't work for all because we are all individuals and some people might not be able to eat as much carbs as I do. So you have to learn to listen to your body and how it feels after you eat something.

When I said I load up on vegetables, berries and fruit, I really mean it. I try to have them on every meal. But I have learned that you should never change you eating habits at once. So if you are eating no vegetables right now, it will not last long if you change all your dinners to be nothing but vegetables. Start slow. Add little bit of berries on your morning cereal. Or when you usually would fill your plate up with mashed potatoes and gravy, now do only half of the plate with potatoes and other half with a healthy salad. Baby steps! That way it doesn't feel like you are only allowed to eat certain things. Because that way every diet will fail at some point.

So what about the carbs? What is good and what is bad? Anything white flour is bad in general. I have switched to whole wheat and full grain everything. I eat whole wheat pasta, dark rice and full grain bread. No white crappy toast or regular pasta. They only raise your blood sugar really fast and then it comes crashing down and you are hungry again very soon.

I eat lots of oats and other full grains. I don't buy sugary oatmeal (we really don't even have it in Finland like they have in US anyway) but I make my own oatmeal from rolled oats. It is a good breakfast or evening snack. Just add some frozen berries with the oatmeal and you are good to go.

But I do eat white so called bad carbs as well but not that often. I love cinnamon buns and other pastries! And I eat them. But not every day and not that much at one sitting. It is called a desert or a treat for a reason. I have something sweet on most days but not all day long and not a huge portion.

I could write a lot on this subject but I won't this time because this post is already very long.
But here is my thoughts on healthy eating in a nutshell:

- Eat regularly! On a normal day I have a breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner and if I worked out that day, a little snack in the evening. This way your blood sugar doesn't drop too low at any point of the day and you don't feel super hungry. I will do a post about a healthy snack later on.

- Portion size! When you eat every 2-3 hours, you don't have to eat a lot at one sitting.

- Listen to your body, are you really hungry or just thirsty? Are you just bored and can't think of anything else to do, so you just eat?

-Fibres! Fibres! Fibres! Whole wheat everything!

-Don't forget to eat veggies, berries and fruit!

- Treat yourself everyday with something good (not after every meal, just once a day and not a whole box of cookies, just one cookie or a piece of dark chocolate).

- Read the ingredient list on a product, the fewer E-codes the better. If possible, buy organic.