Never ever ever ever EVER in my life did I think I'd become one of those annoying calorie-counting ladies.
But I am! I totally am!
And you know what?
I'm really enjoying it.
Call it a psychological need for control. Call it an obsession with food. I love everything about it.
This is how it works. Every day, I log my food and exercise intake into MyFitnessPal.com. The website calculates my exact expenditure of energy and balances it out with my food. Currently, I'm on a plan of 1200 calories a day.
So many nutritionists are against counting calories and dieting. But guess what? I've been eating nutrition-heavy for a long time. I ate my almond butter and my avocados. I ate my cacao and raw honey. I ate my veggies and whole grains. I never counted calories, ever in my whole life.
Many of you probably know how to balance your food intake instinctually. I don't. I need help.
And for all of my yapping about health and nutrition, I found out that I had A LOT to learn!
Here's what I've learned about myself using MyFitnessPal.
- For the last three years, I've eaten heavy raw and vegan. This caused my fat intake to be insanely high. Every day, I ate lots of calories, but not that much food. For example: Raw cookies. Just one of them is 125 calories. I used to eat three or four for breakfast, with coconut oil chocolate on top. That's pushing 600 calories for breakfast. But it's all nuts, fruit, and oil.
- My IBS is completely in sync with my calorie intake. Too many carbs don't bother me as badly as too much fat - because the latter contains more calories. When I eat less calories, my stomach is less upset. As long as I stay within the 1200 calorie range, my IBS is pretty nonexistent.
- When I eat less fat, I'm hungrier. When I ate raw breakfast cookies, I wouldn't be hungry until one or two pm. Now, minus the coconut oil, I am snacking periodically throughout the day. You know what that means? There's a party in my metabolism!
- It is super super super easy to cut fat out of my diet. For example - I used to pour cacao coconut oil sauce over my sweet potato every morning. Now, I halve the potato, make a cacao sauce with it, and pour it over the other half. It's an easy fix with almost two hundred less calories.
- I know what nutrients I need. I know this because MyFitnessPal lets me track my nutrients. Iron and calcium? Those I've got to work on. But protein is SO EASY. It's seriously in EVERYTHING. Every single day, I make the RDA, and I don't even try.
- Drinking ruins EVERYTHING. If I never drank alcohol again, I'd be set. Alas... I do drink. But not as much as I did.
So many popular nutritionists are pro-fat. David "Avocado" Wolfe claims to eat two avocados every single day. Gena and Telpner's websites host oooozles of full-fat recipes.
I don't mean to put down fat. But I do have to remind everyone that fat intake counts. I've been eating almond butter and avocados like crazy. And all it did was aggravate my IBS and make me puffy.
Don't get me wrong - I still eat my avocados. Now I eat them on days that I haven't had much fat. I eat them after I sweat bullets on the elliptical at my gym. I work for my avocados!!!
I don't mean to put down fat. But I do have to remind everyone that fat intake counts. I've been eating almond butter and avocados like crazy. And all it did was aggravate my IBS and make me puffy.
Don't get me wrong - I still eat my avocados. Now I eat them on days that I haven't had much fat. I eat them after I sweat bullets on the elliptical at my gym. I work for my avocados!!!
Currently, I'm revamping my recipes to be more low-fat. Here's the first one: Pumpkin bread.
Low-Fat Pumpkin Bread
1 cup gluten-free flour
(I mixed brown rice, buckwheat, corn, and millet together)
1/2 cup pumpkin
3 Tablespoons flax seed meal
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon all spice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup agave syrup
5-7 drops stevia
3/4 cup water
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon all spice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup agave syrup
5-7 drops stevia
3/4 cup water
Pour this jawn into a cake pan. Bake it at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour.
It was more like cake.Toots
Are you a carbs person?
Do you prefer fat or protein?
What food group do you love to nom?
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7 comments:
Interesting!! My IBS flares up with high fat too! That just made me realize why I had an upset tummy yesterday (I ate 1/2 an avocado).
I'll have to keep track and see how my fat intake is!!
Darn Blogger!!! I just wrote out a long comment and "POOF!", I lost it. Grrr.
Anyways, what I had originally said was that I never thought I'd be a "calorie counter" too. After my year long diet, I continue to read nutritional info. I monitor my carb, fat, protein and fiber intakes. I take eating very seriously now. Hubby thinks I'm a pain in the butt (because it limits restaurant choices and has altered dinners at home), but I blame society, not him.
Society has taught us that food is a reward. Bad day at work? Go get that McFlurry, you deserve it. Food is also a comforter. Depressed about something? Ben & Jerry got your back. Food can be entertainment too. Bored? Well, grab that bag of chips while you channel surf! Look at those chocolate commericals on TV. They can be almost pornographic. That is because we respond to the equation: Food=Pleasure. We have been trained to believe that food is everything BUT what is actually is: FUEL.
I'm not going to deny that I have fallen for these social cues. And honestly, before starting my diet back in January of last year, I didn't look at anything on a nutritional label BEYOND the calorie and fat content. I also used to never check the serving size! Now I still check my food's fat content, but I only glance at the calories. I pay special attention to the serving size and always factor in the carbs, protein and fiber in all my food choices.
Food is our energy source, our medicine, our fountain of youth. It is our lifeline.
I am glad that you have found myfitnesspal.com. I applaud you for making changes in your life! :)
You are doing a great service here on FartyGirl. You are teaching people to change their misconceptions about food. However, you do so with also letting your love of food shine through. You are showing folks that you can still enjoy your meals, but that you must take the nutrition of your meal into consideration with each bite.
Keep up the good work. You rock! :)
I've been having trouble commenting on your blog, I always get an error message and usually don't have time to try a few times, maybe it's been the length of the comments. Anyway, just wanted to say, good luck, you're going to see results very quickly on 1200 calories/day! I'm the other way round, carbs make me gain weight and trigger my IBS- I eat 1700-2000 cals a day, at 50% fat, 25-30% protein and 20-25% carbs, from fruit and veggies and the odd ice-cream when I need a treat;)
I have to say, I've noticed lately that my body seems to have trouble with fats (and they're healthy ones, like pumpkin seed butter), but it also has trouble with carbs...guess I just need to eat more lean protein and veggies. That's of course the hardest thing for me since it's not what I crave. But I definitely do feel better that way...my obsession with baking lately certainly isn't going to help!
I've been tracking my food/exercise for one week now on myfitnesspal and am loving it just as much as you are! I've learned a ton about myself and my eating habits already and love reading about your "ah-ha" moments.
More than anything, doing this has prevented me from binging on a few unhealthy foods (which I've had a hard time trying to prevent myself form doing in the past).
Thanks so much for sharing this website! Looking forward to hearing more updates. :)
-Lisa
Thank you for your comment to me today! It was really sweet. I have been a calorie counter for about 9 years now. I started counting because I lost so much weight. I eat tons of fresh fruits and vegetables, but not the high fat ones. I don't like avocado at all. I needed to find a balance for me. I don't count like I used to because my diet is completely under control. I am not much of a fats person, I just don't like the way it makes me feel. I LOVE my oats and I LOVE the lighter fruits like apples, grapes, cantaloup...you know, the juicy stuff. I'm glad you found a good balance and yeah, it all counts.
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