Now it's time to hear from you... "What dream health result do you want for yourself?" Do you want your knees to never hurt again and be able to run 15 miles? Do you want to wake up energized and know you won't lose a limb to diabetes like your father did? Do you dream of having a lean and toned body that you're happy in everyday?
Please share your insights and thoughts by clicking 'comment' below.
Many people are surprised by how much I eat and what I eat. "But you're so skinny!" some will say as I'm eating the largest bowl of potatoes and veggies they've ever seen. (I personally prefer lean (and strong!) over skinny).
I eat a large volume of food everyday and I love it! I love not being afraid of eating too much or gaining weight. I know that the food I eat is helping me not only stay lean, but energetic, incredibly healthy and this, makes me very happy and in control of my body.
So what do I eat to feel and look this way?
Currently, I'm working 10 hours/day, 50 hours a week (at least) on an organic vegetable farm, burning calories (and needing more food) than if I was working an office job. Keeping that in mind, this is what a regular day looks like for me.
Breakfast (5:30 am):
I always eat breakfast. Every single day. If I don't, I'll faint in a few hours.
Regular or thick rolled oats with ground flax seed, cinnamon and fruit is what I eat for breakfast 95% of my mornings. It's filling, keeps me energized for 3-4 hours easily and it's cheap!
Today I topped my oats with a small banana, blueberries and half a peach.
I rarely get tired of eating oatmeal everyday. Changing the fruit with the seasons keeps my oatmeal feeling new everyday.
However, when I do urge for something different, pancakes typically call to me. I'll make whole wheat pancakes with banana and blueberries or banana with dark chocolate nibs if it's a treat.
Mini-Meal (snack) (9 am):
Multiple days each week I'll eat half of a large sweet potato for a snack. Or a salad with plenty of beans (I love garbanzos right now) with 100% whole-grain toast or a smaller amount of left-over dinner.
I prefer to call snacks mini-meals because people tend to eat healthier when they eat a meal versus a snack like pretzels or chips.
Lunch (12:30 pm):
Lunches are always something filling (I don't want to feel hungry out in the field!), highly nutritious and are typically left-overs from last night's dinner. We always cook large batches during dinner so both my boyfriend and I have lunches for the next day.
The base of the meals are always either beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squash, rice or other whole-grains like corn, quinoa, farro or 100% whole-grain pasta.
These filling starchy (yes starchy!) whole plant foods, are always topped with a variety of different vegetables and sauce for a complete meal.
This may look like corn tortillas with rice, black beans and corn with grilled zucchini, onion, peppers, spinach and salsa on-top.
Mexican burrito bowl lunch -- rice, beans, shredded jicama, corn, salsa, cilantro and lime juice.
Or, lunch may be vegetable curry over rice, vegetable lasagna and salad or a thick veggie burger patty with sweet potato fries.
If I didn't have time to cook, I'll just eat 2 sweet potatoes and a large salad with a lot of beans on-top and it tastes delicious!
Mini-Meal (snack) (3-4 pm):
Depending on how full I feel, I'll eat another small snack in the field around 3 or lately, I've been eating banana ice-cream when I get home around 4:15 to hold me over until dinner.
Dinner (7 or 8 pm-ish):
I'm either making dinner at home similar to lunch OR going out to eat, especially now when I'm working so much. When we go out to eat our favorite locations are Laughing Planet, Nearly Normals and Block 15 in Corvallis, Oregon.
I'm lucky there are so many restaurants where I live that offer vegan and plant-based options. So when I go out to eat I can eat an oil-free burrito at Laughing Planet -- rice, beans, salsa, spinach and kale with their hole mole sauce. Yum!
Or, at Nearly Normal's I'll frequently get the Peanut Pad Thai which is not sautéed in oil with a salad with their oil-free tahini dressing.
Peanut Pad Thai from Nearly Normal's
Sweet Potato Enchilada from Nearly Normal's
At Block 15, I order their home-made Black Bean Burger (It's huge and delicious!) with their oil-free honey mustard dressing.
Block 15's house made Black Bean Burger with oil-free honey mustard dressing
(Haha whose coming to visit to go out to eat with me? Seriously!)
These are the important notes I want you to take away from what I eat on a regular basis.
1. In my home, I don't cook with oil (it's not even in the house), sugar (again, not in the house) and we don't eat dairy or meat in the house as well. Any of these rare 'treats' are saved for special occasions outside of the house.
2. When I go out to eat (yes you can do this!) I always order as healthy and filling meals as possible without oil and animal foods. Sometimes it's not always possible to get completely oil-free, but I go for the best possible option. (Please note I'm also at my ideal weight and disease free. Depending on your situation, I may be tougher with you here ;-).
3. Nut, seeds and other high-fat foods are used as condiments. I don't eat an entire avocado as a snack, eat peanut butter out of the jar or snack on hand fulls of nuts. I wouldn't lose or maintain my current weight if I did! To get the nutritional benefits of high-fat plant foods without gaining weight, sprinkle nuts on-top of a larger dish like salad or oatmeal or spread one slice of avocado on a veggie burger.
Now I'd LOVE to hear from you! Please share your thoughts in the comments section below by answering today's Take Control Now Question.
Today is Earth Day, a day we celebrate how beautiful and important our planet, our home truly is. I know global warming is a concern of yours and it's something I take very seriously as well.
To better protect our planet, we all know we should recycle, turn the lights off, drive less etc. But what about our food choices? What impact do they have on climate change? It turns out that our food system, what we eat, has a greater climate-change impact than the transportation sector (1), (2), (3).
So this Earth day, I’m giving you 3 ways you can reduce your food carbon footprint by 60%, from the book 'How Bad Are Bananas? The Carbon Footprint of Everything' (4).
Now just a heads up, when I say carbon footprint, I’m referring to the carbon footprint equivalent (CO2e). That is, the total impact of all the greenhouse gases caused by an action and expressing it as the amount of carbon dioxide that would have the same impact of all the greenhouse gases combine. It's a more comprehensive measurement than just carbon dioxide.
Eradicating your waste can reduce your carbon footprint by 25% (4).
In Western or privileged countries, “we are thought to waste about ¼ of the edible food we buy” (4). Wow!
Make sure your food doesn't go to waste by storing it properly. Then, make sure you eat it!
The author states that “sensible” reductions in meat and dairy can reduce your food carbon footprint by another 25% (4).
He says “food from animals turns out to be more greenhouse gas intensive than food from plants.” It’s far more efficient for humans to eat plants directly so all the plant's energy goes to us humans, not the animal.
In addition, the average water footprint per calorie for beef is twenty times larger than for cereals and starchy roots (5).
Beef and lamb are especially high in carbon because they are belching ruminants. 2.2 pounds (1 kg) of beef equates to about 37 pounds of CO2e! Dairy foods have the same emissions problems as beef because the product is still coming from a belching ruminant animal. 2.2 pounds (1 kg) of cheese equates to about 29 pounds of CO2e.
To implement this guideline, consume no more than 2-3 ounces of organic meat per week or, none at all!
And tip #3 for reducing your food carbon footprint...
This can help you reduce your food carbon footprint by another 10% (4).
You want to avoid foods grown in hothouses that are artificially heated. You also want to avoid foods that have traveled via planes.
Ships can carry food around the world 100 times more efficiently than planes (4). Ships are also more efficient at shipping food than food that has traveled 1000s of road miles like from one side of the U.S. to the other. These road miles are roughly as carbon intensive as plane miles (4).
“As a guide, if a food has a short shelf life and isn’t in season where you live, it was probably grown in a hothouse or traveled via plane. In the U.S. in the winter time, examples include lettuce, asparagus, tomatoes, strawberries, and cut flowers. Apples, oranges, bananas on the other hand, almost always travel on a boat" (4).
There you have it. Three ways you can reduce your food carbon footprint by 60% -- eat what you buy, avoid animal products and go seasonal.
If you’re interested in learning more about food and the environment, here is a paper I wrote on the environmental impact of food that is filled with scholarly references.
Now I want to challenge you to put this information into action into your personal life. Today’s Take Control Now Challenge is….
Put your answer and experiences in the comments section below this video.
If you liked this video, please email it to your friends and family. Send them to www.TrishaMandes.com to sign-up for email updates and receive a free resource guide with THE BEST books, recipe websites and more for achieving permanent weight-loss and disease reversal.
Thank you so much for joining me this Earth Day for Take Control Tuesdays. Get educated, make a change and get support. You can get the healthy body of your dreams.
References
4. Berners-Lee, Mike. How Bad Are Bananas? The Carbon Footprint of Everything. London: 2010.
5. Hoekstra, A.Y. & Mekonnen, M.M. 2010. The green, blue and grey water footprint of farm animals and animal products. [online] UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education. Value of water research report series no. 48, volume 1: main report. Accessed 24 November 2012. Available at: http://www.waterfootprint.org/Reports/Report-48-WaterFootprint-AnimalProducts-Vol1.pdf
Nutritionist, Trisha Mandes, MPHN is a weight-loss and optimal eating expert.
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Heads up! The material on TrishaMandes.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice. Please consult with your doctor before changing your diet or discontinuing medications. TrishaMandes.com is not responsible or liable for any injuries due to any action or inaction taken from the material on this site.
