Yesterday was my first full day of “PN eating” (click here to read about it). It was pretty good. I have not technically fully started yet, as I am still going through the binder, and have not gone through the goals and measurement portion – which is important. I will be doing that this weekend. I do like that I could get started before doing that though.
Yesterday I ate well. A tasty omelet before work, a shake mid-morning, chicken with chick peas and a mediterranean salad for lunch, then a post-workout shake, chicken with quinoa and spinach for dinner, and then some steel-cut oatmeal with blueberries for my final snack of the day. All in all, it was pretty good.
This morning I woke up and had another omelet, but this time with chicken sausage in it. I do like breakfast meat, and as it turns out, I like the chicken sausage almost as much as the regular sausage. I cooked up the entire package of 5 of them so that prep time for future omelets will be quicker. I’ve always been a big fan of omelets, but the big difference here is that I am not eating it with a side of toast.
In fact this is one of the big changes for me, and one that I’m most curious about. I eat a piece of toast every morning, either with an omelet or with a shake. But I’m wondering – do I eat that because I need it, or because that’s just what I’ve always done? If I cut that out, will it make a positive difference in my body composition? Will I feel more hungry and less energetic if I cut it out? One way to find out! So far no downside, but I’ll report back after a few more days.
I just realized that the toast in the morning thing is one piece of my nutrition baggage. It’s something I’ve been hanging onto, but I’m not really sure why. I mean, toast is not exactly one of those I can’t live without you foods. Or at least not for me. This is giving me new perspective on my goal for this nutrition program. It’s time I cleaned out my nutrition habits closet and get rid of the stuff that doesn’t fit any more. It’s time I really understand all of the food that I eat, both from a nutrition and enjoyment perspective. If toast in the morning is negatively impacting my body composition, but is not something I really love, then why eat it?
Think about it – when most of us decide we want to drop 10 or 20 pounds, the first thing we do is decide to stop eating all of the obvious poor choices like beer, pasta and Cheetos (not that I’m obsessing), which typically makes us miserable, and inevitably leads to failure. But what if we cut back a bit on these items, but also do a full review of the rest of our eating habits, and take out the stuff that may be hurting us but that we don’t care about? And while we’re at it, we try out some new healthy additions that will become staples in our future diet? For instance, I’m realizing that Precision Nutrition is a great reason for me to start eating avocado and tomato salad on a regular basis. For anyone who lives in Ottawa and has been to either The Green Door or The Table, you know what I’m talking about. That stuff is amazing! But do you make it at home? Time to start!
Well, time to make a shake and then go do my grocery shopping. More tomorrow. Here’s a link to more details, in case you’re reading through this thinking what is this precision nutrition thing she’s talking about?
click here for the next installment of My Precision Nutrition Journal.
Elsbeth Vaino is a personal trainer in Ottawa, Canada.