Over the past few days, I’ve gotten quite a few questions on My Facebook Page about what I eat and the “diet” that I follow.
I always boast to friends that I can eat whatever I want whenever I want.
The only issue with that statement is that “whatever” I want to eat isn’t necessarily what YOU would want to eat, or what “Joe” the overweight couch potato would want to eat.
Over the years, I’ve noticed my palate develop and really respond well to specific tastes, textures and foods.
For example, okra – yes, okra – is one of my favourite foods. When I was growing up, my mom used to make a vegetable stew and one of the staple vegetables in it was okra. I hated it back then – as did every other kid first exposed to the slimy green vegetable. But now, I could eat that stuff everyday and TWICE on Sunday.
I think it’s one of my favourites because it reminds me of my childhood and whenever I go up to visit my parents, she’s got some waiting for me.
Vegetables, to me, taste like candy. So many different flavours with their own unique version of sweet, I can eat vegetables all day.
These days, traditional junk food just either tastes sweet or salty to me – nothing more or nothing less.
If you really think about it, french fries are just salty. They don’t taste like anything else other than salty.
Crappy chocolate that you can get at the corner store just tastes sweet – it doesn’t taste like anything at all other than sweet.
And so as hoakey as it sounds, the key to really eating “whatever you want” is to really be conscious about what food you’re eating and more importantly WHY you are eating it.
EVERYONE emotionally eats. Man or woman. Fat or skinny.
The important thing is to recognize the specific situations and emotions related to why we eat what we do and change our behaviour accordingly.
…AND to forgive ourselves if we mess up.
So I think one of the major steps in eating “whatever you want”, is to really change your mindset on what it is you want to eat.
This is easier said than done obviously.
So before we get into the actual list of what I eat, I have to let you know what my “rules” are. They’re very simple…
1. I don’t count calories…EVER. I don’t have the time or energy to waste trying to figure out how many calories are in the grass fed beef burger with avocado I just ate or the 12 and a half green beans that I had to finish off my 6 year old’s plate. The last thing I want are for my 4 daughters to see my wife or me obsess over the calorie content of the piece of apple pie we had for dessert. If it’s good, fresh and wholesome, I’ll eat it.
1b. I don’t count grams of protein. This is pretty much for the same reason above. Because of famous diets like The Zone, Atkins and the South Beach Diet, protein has been made out to be the “super” macronutrient with carbs as the dreaded villan.
Is Protein important in your diet? Yes.
Is it as important as the media make it out to be? No, not at all.
In fact, for a really good resource on how important (or not) protein is and to find out exactly how much protein your body really needs, I suggest you check out “How Much Protein” by my friend, Brad Pilon…
2. I eat when I’m hungry. I don’t “time” my food. If I’m hungry, I eat. If I’m not, I won’t.
3. I eat REAL food. I won’t waste my time with junk food, protein or energy bars, processed food or almost anything that comes from a box or some type of packaging. The only exception to this is probably the protein powder that I use (which still comes from organic plants).
5am – 2 big glasses of water and 1 or 2 cups of Green Tea
7am – I go for an early AM walk to the espresso bar and have an espresso (my only indulgence/vice/addiction)
8am – Breakfast with my family – 3 eggs scrambled with chives (and sometimes I’ll add in some potatoes, or whatever veggie we have on hand), 4 strips of bacon (if available), 1 tablespoon of coconut oil, an apple and more water.
9am-2pm - I don’t eat much. I’ll snack on nuts, fruit & cut up veggies throughout the day. I’ll also have another TBSP of coconut oil.
3pm – (Post-Workout) Shake – 1/2 can coconut milk, frozen broccoli or spinach, frozen berries, 1/2 banana, 1.5 scoops Sun Warrior protein, 1 TBSP each of chia seed, cocoa nibs, maca powder.
7pm – Dinner with the family. This is usually some type of meat or fish grilled on the barbeque since it’s summer as I’m writing this, a green vegetable and a starch – like potatoes or rice or (sometimes pasta). And then, if we have anything on hand, we’ll have some type of dessert. My wife makes really great chocolate chip scones from scratch that are very easy to “whip up”. Sometimes we’ll have some ice cream (I eat coconut milk ice cream because I’m lactose intolerant).
You’ll notice that there’s a 5 hour span in there where I don’t eat a traditional “lunch”. I’ve just found that eating around that time really makes me sluggish and unproductive. I’ll have lunch sometimes, but for the most part, it’s not in my daily practice.
During that 5 hour window, I’ll just make sure that I stay hydrated and I’ll always have some raw nuts and cut up veggies available.
So that – in a nutshell – is what I eat.
The really intriguing part is what and why I DON’T eat and how that’s allowed me to stay lean.
In Part 2, I’ll talk more about that and about my pathetic version of carb cycling (which keeps me between 7 – 10% bodyfat year round.)
Chris
