You Are What You Eat

I’ve been asked too many times what I eat and I decided it’s time I did a post about it since the holidays are around the corner and most people binge into and through them. We have to eat for sustenance but most of us eat for other reasons such as laziness, boredom, sadness, happiness etc.

Before my healthy eating journey started, I was a sucker for blue bunny cookies and cream, rice, toast, noodles, fried food, cornbeef and a lot of other sinful meals. I would finish a whole tub of ice cream in one sitting and sleep peacefully.

My weight fluctuated on the scale but I remained around the same size cloth wise. However, I had no idea that I was doing my body more harm than good;

• I always got tired easily.
• I slept a lot.
• Fell sick often.
• Every task seemed like a chore.
• Food was the solution to every problem.
• I took a dump once in three days or longer.

Want to Know What I eat now? Continue reading….

Like I mentioned in Why Exercise when I started exercising, I liked how it made me feel but I didn’t lose any fat or weight for months until I realized much later I needed to watch what I put in my body to see gains. Once I started this, I didn’t need any more validations.

So here’s some of what I used to eat and what I eat now instead;

• Rice – Bulgar Wheat/ Bulgur
• White Bread – Naan/Wheat Bread/Banana Bread
• Yam – Plantain/Sweet Potato
• Whole Milk – Almond Milk/Coconut Milk
• Ice cream – Smoothie
• Chocolate/Doritos/Cake – Crackers
• Ribena/Juice/Soda – Water
• Indomie Noodles – Spelt Pasta
• Eba/Amala/Poundo – Plantain Flour/Coconut Flour
• Cornflakes/Cereal – Granola
• Sugar – Natural Honey
• Vegetable Oil – Coconut Oil

Also, just so you know, there’s nothing like eating food from the earth. That’s the realest form of food ever!!! Food that is ready to eat without any form of cooking; Fruits and Vegetables. You’ve gotta learn to love fixing your own meals because you’re the only one that knows what’s really inside. The goal is to not focus on how much you eat but on what you eat instead.

A whole lot of meals can be made from fruit and vegetables; different types of juices, smoothies, fruit salads and vegetable salads. When I say salad, I don’t mean the type with cornbeef or baked beans and a lot of cream. Yeah, not that type. The fresh kind with no canned produce.

Changing your diet is a step by step process and can never be attained over night. It takes a lot of courage and determination. You will have to learn to eat things you always discarded. I had a conversation with my younger sister recently about this. She’s trying to change her diet and her lifestyle in general. I made a sandwich and she took out the cucumbers and trashed them before she ate it. I was alarmed by the act and asked her why she took them out and her response was I don’t eat cucumbers. How can you not eat cucumbers????? Cucumber that keeps you hydrated, nourish you with vitamins, flush out toxins to mention a few of its many health benefits, Cucumbers are so good for you if I started talking about it, I’d have to write a whole post about the fruit.

In conclusion, nothing great comes easy. You will definitely have hard days but as long as you keep at it in no time it will be walk in the park. You are what you eat so make healthy choices.

Speak less about what you shouldn’t be eating and more about what you should be eating.

Thanks for reading.

Mariam Shittu