Thursday 28 July 2011

Day 1 Typical Eats

Edited to add: Please note this post was written at the start of this year and since then I have actually managed to reign in my Nana's cookie addiction! :)


I started this blog because I wanted to talk about the Weston A Price style of eating, how enjoyable I find it, how it has totally healed my health and how I make it work on a day to day basis! Although I have a page which details some typical eats, I thought it would probably be helpful if I took the next five days to talk you through some of they typical foods I eat in a day.
Now that I'm no longer living off Baileys and Indian Take-Away that is... :)
My motive in doing this is also two fold. I know so many women still freak out at the idea of eating a high fat diet, or even a diet that has a decent amount of food. Every day I pick up a magazine that tells women they can live off Bran Flakes in the morning, half a Tuna Sandwich, a microwave dinner and an apple as a snack. This makes me SO MAD! You cannot live off that kind of thing. Or you can't do so and be healthy anyway. Restricting yourself to anything less than 1800 calories per day is not cool and your body (and hormones!) need fat to survive.
Okay, I will calm down now. But I'm using today's post to talk you through what I ate, why I made those choices and anything I would change if I was trying to be a little better behaved. Even though I try to eat Weston Price style, nobody is perfect.
Plus I live in London and work in an office.
Plus I LOVE cookies.
Pre-breakfast; Coffee!!!! Made with dash of double cream.
Breakfast - 2 Dates (see above). Nana's Cookie and glass of Plamil Soy Milk.
I would normally have maple syrup in the coffee as well, and a banana before my work-out. Unfortunately, we're out of bananas and I'm trying super hard not to have sugar this month. Plus, I haven't worked out on an empty stomach in so long I thought I would try some cardio fasting. One thing I do always make sure I do now though, is to have a quick carby snack IMMEDIATELY after exercising. That whole 'don't eat for one hour before exercising, or one hour after' does not work for me! Or anyone unfortunate enough to be spending time with me ;)
Anyway, I went to the gym for a record 20 minutes (not my most hardcore morning!), did some weights and ate 2 dates, pretty quick smart afterwards. I then came home and had my cookie.
Now, soy milk I know is not very Weston Price friendly. However, harping back to my healthy days I adore it and I think in limited amounts it's fine. I probably buy about one carton every couple of months (when I'm feeling burnt out on standard milk) and I always make sure I choose a brand without added emulsifiers or other nasties. I also always buy the un-sweetened variety.
Lunch - Salad made with 100g Organic Feta Cheese, Beetroot and Artichoke (as per yesterday). I also added some Beet Greens and dressed with 1 TBSP Olive Oil + Balsamic + Wholegrain mustard. Plus, a large apple and a couple of large carrots dipped in the remaining dressing.
I explained a bit about this salad yesterday, but didn't fully dissect why I am LOVING on it so much at the moment. Both artichokes and beetroot are very high in cynarin. The liver is one of the only organs that can actually regenerate itself and cynarin is key to helping with this process.
There is even more good new though - they both contain particularly high amounts of potassium. Potassium is the essential counter-remedy to sodium, something we've all probably had a bit too much over the party season. Potassium helps regulate the flow of mineral salts and maintain water balance. Safe blood pressure is dependent on not only minding your sodium intake, but also making sure you get enough potassium! As far as food sources go almost all fruit and vegetables are good sources, but artichokes, beetroot, green leafy vegetables and bananas are particularly useful.
Dinner - Scrambled Eggs - I always use three, but Louis took that picture before I added the third! I made with them with whole milk, black pepper and cooked with a big slab (1 TBSP?) of butter. I served them on rye toast with marmite, with tomato and red onion salad and a GIANT apple to follow. I chased that with a few spoonfuls of Creme Freshe from the jar, just because we had it lying it around from New Years Eve.
Eggs are pretty much my ultimate 'go-to' food. Although pastured eggs are the best, free range organic eggs are still a great choice ... so cheap and so widely available. Plus, you have dinner in under 10 minutes!
The key to good scrambled eggs is to cook them VERY slowly over a low heat, with a ton of pepper. Serve them rye bread for crunch and with Marmite for much needed salt. A simple salad makes the whole thing very French and a bunch more nutritious. Always have at least 3 eggs! That should give you nearly 20g of protein, and you are aiming for at least 30 per meal. The bread, vegetables and milk should make up nearly the other 10g!
I also drank a ton of water all day long.
As you can see this diet isn't totally Weston Price. It's heavier on the grains than I consider to be ideal - particularly at a time in my life when exercise is clearly not taking priority! However, it has a good amount of fat, plenty of seasonal vegetables and a good number of calories - the three things I try hardest to maintain at all times. It also had a good amount of protein at every meal- another key point of action for me!
I'll be back again tomorrow with a similar update!  xox

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