Looking After Yourself Inside And Out, Part 3

Have you ever heard of the seafood diet? If not, it’s quite simple. You see food and have to eat it. I’m a big fan of it. As I’ve said before, I love food. I love eating it, talking about it and cooking it. That’s why for me it’s so important to be aware of what I’m eating.

The thing is, it feels like every day we’re being told what’s good for us and what’s bad for us. Should we be eating 5 or 10 portions of fruit and veg a day? Does red wine have health benefits? What’s the recommended intake of red meat a week? It’s easy to get confused.

Then there’s food trends.

So many experts telling us what to do. I think we just need to apply some common sense. Although I know that common sense is not necessarily all that common.

We know what’s good for us and we know what’s bad for us. At the end of the day it’s a choice. We have options. But it’s our decision what we eat. No one is forcing us. Although you might tell yourself something different.

So, for today, let’s talk about nutrition.

Nutrition

What is nutrition? In simple terms, it’s the intake of food for health and growth.

Cooking delicious meals that look and taste great makes me happy. I can cook and so I regularly cook from scratch. Don’t get me wrong there are some processed foods in our house. Plus my kids seem to like ham, a lot.

What to eat?

A few months ago my husbandWe all lead busy lives and it's easy to forget to take time to look after ourselves inside and out. My article gives you an insight into what I'm doing. told me we always eat chicken. Not actually true. But this got me thinking. Thinking about what we eat during the week. I would say that we have a varied diet. The good thing is that neither of us is fussy and we generally eat most things. Although I personally draw the line at offal.

So I decided to make a more conscious decision on what we were eating. Rather than cooking the same things on a weekly basis.

I decided that during the week we’d mix it up. Meat and fish twice a week, vegetarian once a week and vegan once a week. This would leave one day to be spontaneous. Just to make things interesting, and accommodate the 7 ingredients challenge!

My biggest challenge has been cooking vegan dishes. I’m slowly getting there. I’ve started with homemade gnocchi and vegetable curries. Next step Jackfruit. It makes great hummus by the way.

Meal Planning

Not to repeat myself, but I know that life is busy. So to keep things simple and easy to manage I also plan our weekly meals.

Benefits:

• It saves me scratching my head daily to think of what to cook.
• It minimises food waste.
• I can budget more easily.
• I food shop just once a week.
• I’m less likely to need to top up.
• I can ensure that every week is varied, although Tuesday is lamb chops night, usually.

Hydrate

Something that I’m particular bad at is keeping myself hydrated. It’s not because I forget. I just don’t think. I’ve formed a habit which I need to break.

I’ve read that we should be drinking 2 litres of water a day which is about 8 glasses of water. Surely that depends on the size of your glass. Anyway, I’ve also read that you should take into account food that has a high water content. Just to complicate things further.

After all is said and done, we need to keep ourselves hydrated. We are 60% water! Plus drinking water helps with the removal of waste from our bodies, our skin health and with our energy levels.

Snacking and the bad stuff

And finally, the elephant in the room, snacks and the things that are bad for us. Personally, I don’t think we should deny ourselves what we like. I know that if I tell myself I can’t have something then I become fixated on it and want it more!

Being disciplined is great in trying to control my overwhelming need to eat a chocolate biscuit or finish off that final piece of cake. But sometimes I need a little more help.

My number one tip is ‘out of sight out of mind’. I limit the amount of snacks that are in the house. This is not always easy, especially around Easter and Christmas. My second tip is to have a glass of water. If you have a craving then drink a glass of water instead. My third tip is distraction. I find myself thinking of food when I’m not busy. So in that case I distract myself. And finally, if you want a biscuit. Then have one. But eat it really slowly to savour the moment. And then stop

Keeping it simple and a little bit of planning has made my life so much easier. Life is hectic so anything that helps is appreciated.

What are you doing?