Food Discipline

I was making my oatmeal and peeling a hard boiled egg this morning in the break room at work and someone was there with me that said “now, that’s a healthy breakfast.” And I thought….blog time. We continued the conversation and she said she wishes she could be that disciplined instead of eating a huge piece of pie (as she referred to it) for breakfast. I told her I am pretty disciplined in what I eat and that it didn’t come easy at first. She said she usually grabs a pop tart thinking that it’s a quick on the go “meal”, but then she winds up hungry an hour later. This got me to thinking about what I eat and I thought I would share some of that with you. This week I had oatmeal and a hard boiled egg pretty much every day for breakfast, along with my cup of coffee with flavored creamer (can’t and won’t give that up). I usually make hard boiled eggs every other week as if I made them every week I would get tired of them. Part of the discipline also includes changing up what you are eating. Some people say they get tired of eating the same thing when they are eating healthy. You don’t have to…and shouldn’t be….eating the same things all the time. For me, it’s all about prepping and making sure I have a variety of healthy options in my fridge to accommodate my meals for the week. Some of the meals/snacks I’ve had this week consist of:

· Cobb salad with homemade honey lime dressing (recipe below)
· Celery and carrots with peanut butter
· Taco meat with rice, lettuce and avocado
· Yogurt
· Grilled chicken with green beans
· Nutrigrain bar (not the best, but it filled my sweet tooth)
· Edamame
· Banana
· Protein shake with half a banana, ice, skim milk and peanut butter
· Broccoli
· Pretzels
· Cheesecake (for my Mom’s birthday)

I really don’t track what I eat, so I’m sure there are things I’m missing, but the point is that, if you look, most of what I have is pretty healthy. I don’t eat a lot of carbs and when I do eat them it is sparingly. The thing I want to point out is that I am not hungry when I eat right. The foods I eat are filling and nutritious. When you fill up on things that are full of calories, fat, sodium and carbs your body reacts and craves more thus resulting in the constant hunger cycle. Now that the weekend is here I will have my cheat meals. I must do that so I don’t feel completely deprived and let's be honest...who doesn't love some pizza on a Friday night? What I do notice though is that if I go all weekend and haven’t had enough vegetables I am craving them. My body misses them and reacts accordingly by feeling sluggish.

Honey Lime Dressing Recipe

· ½ cup mayo (I use Hellman’s lite) · 1/3 cup honey · 2 T lime juice · This is very flavorful so I only need a tiny bit on my salad to bring it all together for taste.

Go out there, be active and eat healthy. Your body will thank you. Happy Friday everyone…..Hope Peace Fit!