You Are What You Eat

Pizza, McDonald’s, All-You-Can-Eat Sushi...

They say that you are what you eat, and thinking back over what I have been eating makes me feel pretty sick. My favourite food was anything that included carbs, specifically pasta, and it really has been doing nothing positive for my health. I constantly felt sluggish, lazy and unmotivated to do anything, and I am pretty sure that the disgusting amount of carbs and sugar that I had been consuming might be to blame. It also didn’t help that veggies were my enemy and I was lucky if I got a single serving of fruit or veggies each day.

What I needed was to rethink my approach to food. Sure, all that junk I was eating before tasted good, but it definitely wasn’t good for me. The life changing idea for me was to recognize that food should be used as fuel for my body, not to comfort myself after a bad day.

 The vitamins and minerals in foods like lean meat, leafy greens and colourful fruit would provide my body with the energy it needed to get through the day, without needing an energy drink pick-me-up at noon.

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So how was I going to make such a large change in my eating habits without feeling like I was being deprived of what I loved?

I began to make gradual changes to my meals throughout the day. My favourite and easiest change so far has been making an energy packed breakfast smoothie and changing up the ingredients so that I don’t get bored. Frozen fruit such as mangoes, peaches, raspberries, strawberries and bananas are excellent additions to any smoothie.

 



 The secret to getting the most bang for your buck in the morning is to sneak veggies into your fruit smoothies. Leafy greens like spinach and kale can be added to fruit smoothies, and you would never taste the difference. Kale has been called a veggie powerhouse that is known for benefits such as improving your metabolism and digestion, as well as being full of health boosting vitamin C and omega-3 fatty acids. Carrots and celery are also easy to add as they have such subtle tastes that they won’t overpower your breakfast.

 I found that by making this simple change in the mornings, I had more energy throughout the day and made better choices overall. I even stopped craving the carbs and energy drinks that I had relied on to get me through the day!

 In my next post I will go into detail about the other changes that I have made to my eating habits. I will also begin to post the different smoothie recipes that I am trying out to hopefully inspire someone else to get the best possible start to their day.