Normal Tastes So Good!

Posted: May 25, 2011 at 9:01 am

After getting home from the Fitbloggin conference Sunday afternoon, I quickly determined we had NO groceries. Promptly following that realization, I stated the obvious that I did not feel like grocery shopping and wanted to enjoy a low-key evening with la familia. Enter a pizza dinner out with my loved ones.

IMGP1293 me and peter IMGP1298

And I was eyeing the pizza like Baby B was eyeing that bottle of mommy milk!

mellow mushroom cheese pizza

Sometimes plain cheese is all you need for satissfying pizza. As long as it gets doused in red pepper flakes. I like some heat with my pizza!

While this dinner out with the family certainly tasted delicious, I could feel the effects of eating quite a few meals out and different than my normal choices starting to impact my body. I knew the only thing to do would be to jump right back into my normal eats the very next meal. Healthy eating can taste just as good, after all! Over the last couple of days I have crammed in the healthy and delicious goods as much as possible.

Breakfasts

strawberry raisin pb oats
oats with strawberries, raisins, and natural peanut butter

 dried cherry coconut oats
oats featuring coconut, dried cherries from Choose Cherries, and peanut butter 

Lunches

black bean wrap lunch
black bean wrap (with cheese, salsa, spinach, & tomato), carrots + hummus, and my free sample chocolate probiotic bar from Attune

 egg sandwich lunch
sandwich (whole egg, spinach, tomato, Laughing Cow blue cheese), carrots + hummus, and a sliced apple

Snacks

 yogurt   erewhon cereal bowl erewhon cereal
yogurt bowl featuring Chobani peach, Erewhon Mixed Berry Crispy Brown Rice Cereal, and almonds

green smoothie and larabar
green smoothie (almond milk, frozen banana, spinach) and blueberry muffin Larabar

Dinners 

sweet potato and egg dinner
egg scramble (with mushrooms + onion + goat cheese) and sweet potato

chicken strawberry salad
delicious salad – details coming later 

After just two days I already feel so much better. I am so thankful that I now recognize how much quality fuel does for my body. I want to get back to eating foods like I show above…and not because I “should” or to “diet”. I used to have a really, really difficult time going back to healthier eats after a vacation or any time where I would “fall off the wagon” of whatever restrictions I had set on myself. I viewed eating in such a manner as a chore and not something to enjoy. I wouldn’t want to give up my “fun foods” and so I would often end up in an extra week or two of binging.

Now, just feeling the difference in my body motivates me to break out the spinach and oatmeal. And happily. Eating in this manner truly pleases me. It is no longer an issue to return to better-for-my-health meals (I hate using the term “good” or “bad”).  I credit that ease to finding ways to prepare meals so they taste good and working hard over the years to get more in tune with my body. Plus, it also helps knowing I don’t have to deny myself things like pizza for forever either…because each meal is just that – one meal. Dining habits don’t have to turn into a chain of overeating from going outside of standard meals for a couple days. I just remember that each meal is a choice. And I choose to eat what leave me feeling good – physically, mentally, and tastily.

  • Is it difficult for you to jump back into healthier habits after being away from them for any length of time?
  • What foods do you CRAVE when you get back to normal eats?

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68 Comments to “Normal Tastes So Good!”
  1. Love the pic of Baby B eyeing that bottle! Priceless!

    I used to have a hard time “getting back on the wagon” but like you, now I crave the wholesome foods. If I go more than a few days without veggies, I start craving them like crazy, especially spinach! Nothing like a big green smoothie after a normal eats hiatus! The only trouble I seem to have is taming my sweet tooth once it gets used to treats and stuff. I’m usually pretty sensitive to sweeteners, but if I have sweet desserts or even too many sweet breakfasts (oats with chocolate and such), I tend to crave sweets all.the.time and then my tolerance seems to get higher and higher. Once I get back on track though, I can really feel a difference in how my body feels…too much sugar makes me feel lazy!

  2. Is it difficult for you to jump back into healthier habits after being away from them for any length of time? YES! I am trying to figure out this balance. I know I feel better when I don’t fill my body full of junk … trying to figure out why I do it! I guess some things are ingrained in us for so long it takes awhile to break. I think I have a lot of memories associated with food also. I need to cherish the memories and realize I don’t need to eat the foods associated–just remember! Thanks, Tina! I hope one day I will learn to listen to myself like you do!

  3. LG says:

    “Physically, mentally and tastily”. Love! :0)

    I like getting back to homemade, healthier foods when I come back from a vacation. I always say to my husband “well, that was fun, but now I’m ready to ‘decompress'”.

  4. Your kids are absolutely adorable!

    I completely agree with you on when you’re used to eating healthy that when you don’t eat that way, you can physically feel the effects and you WANT your healthy food back. I used to be a huge sugar addict & since having Gestational Diabetes & learning from a Kinesiologist that my body doesn’t really know what to do w/sugar, I’ve completely cut sugar out (well, not completely, but I only have natural sugars & in very small doses). Now, it’s not an issue AT ALL to turn things down that I used to crave on a second-by-second basis. It’s much easier to just not put those things in my body. I feel sooo much better, too! Healthy feels/tastes good! 🙂

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