It's so funny how the most basic stuff can trip you up sometimes
Let me give a little background of myself: I have always eaten processed foods. Always. I was raised on mac and cheese, ramen, and frozen pizzas. This is the world I know.
With that said, when I hear people talk about 'eating healthy' and when I myself decide to eat healthy, what I envision is, basically, the caveman diet. (The diet in which you do not eat any processed foods, including pasta. If a caveman couldn't eat or make it, then neither can you. Which isn't to say you can't cook your food and throw spices and such on it--you just can't go around eating cookies or burgers!)
So when I decide to 'eat healthy', it means protein, veggies, fruits, and whole grains. Nothing else is acceptable, other than a dessert perhaps. However, I generally don't get so into it that I'm making sure I get my proper servings of each food group.
To all of you ladies, in your own words, what do you consider 'eating healthy'? What are your personal standards? And how flexible are you with them? Do you (want to) eat healthy all/most of the time, or do you settle with half of the time--or even less? Is it possible to go overboard and if you feel so... when?
To me healthy eating in much more moderate. I try to eat high fiber, low sugar cereals, skim milk, lowfat or nonfat yogurt, chicken, fish, fruits, veggies, baked chips instead of fried. I do not eat a lot of desserts, but do like some dark chocolate or sugar free pudding.
I have an ideal standard, and then what I actually hold myself to.
The ideal, for me, would be a diet consisting of (in order of volume/importance) local, small farm raised, in season produce, lean, preferably grass fed meats and lowfat dairy, beans, legumes and whole grains, water, coffee, tea, and the odd glass of wine, and small amounts of olive oil or other healthy fat sources.
My personal standard is to base all of my meals on the above, and add in a few extras to accomodate my own needs...No Sugar Added ice cream (it keeps me sane and fits in my calories for the day, and I firmly believe it makes my life better), 1-2 diet sodas a week, sugar free gum, and protein shakes/bars to keep me from eating off my forearm if I get stuck without food (if I'm traveling, for example, and my choices are breakfast buffet or protein bar, I am darned happy to have that bar!). And then two or so times a month, I have some delicious baked pastry thingy, cupcake, brownie, etc made with butter and sugar and white flour, and I enjoy it (but it's not a frequent kind of thing).
For me, eating healthy is feeding my body what it needs to run properly and most efficiently. It's like I'm a Bentley. I'm not going to put watered down gas in my Bentley. My body deserves the best.
So like Sheena, I try to eat nutritionally dense foods. I mean, I've lost weight in the past, but I never had the right attitude. This time, I want to learn moderation, and eating healthy things (yogurt, high fiber cereals, and VEGGIES) not because I have to, but because I want to give my body the best food possible. Sorry if that sounds lame.
And I still eat hecka sweets. Just not really bad ones like a huge bowl of ice cream with chocolate syrup. I eat vitatops, skinny cows, etc. I just make room in my points for them. It fulfills my sweet tooth and I don't feel deprived at all, and I'm still losing weight.
I don't try for perfection (ie cave man diet). I have a plan that's liveable.
I eat a ton of veggies, fruits. I avoid most packaged foods, but make exception for convenience foods that make my life easier (ie whole wheat pasta, whole wheat tortillas, jelly, organic ketchup, organic BBQ sauce, organic yogurt, canned tomatoes etc).
Could I make my own BBQ sauce or pasta or yogurt? Yeah, I probably could but that much effort does not fit into my lifestyle. With all the meal planning, cooking dinners, packing lunches, I already feel like I do PLENTY!
I basically look at each food and weigh the nutritional content - is good for me? Then, I probably eat it. If it has zero to little nutritional content (fast food, packaged baked goods, sugary soda) I try to avoid it. I still split desserts in restaurants and have the occasional frozen yogurt or small chocolate dip cone from DQ. My life is not deprivation, there are indulgences that I look forward to.
I would say, on a day to day basis, I eat 95% on plan - meaning good, healthy, nutritionally powerful food. What generally throws me off is unexpected/surprise food and social gatherings. Luckily, I don't have to be perfect. If someone at works puts out cheese/crackers and I eat a few too many, I am not going to get heavy again. One day of cheese and crackers did not make me heavy!
If I eat off plan (or plan to eat offplan!) I immediately go right back to my healthy eating habits. Overall, I would like to think I'm about 85/15 and that appears to be a great ratio for me. 5 years at goal weight next month.
Right now, my version of eating healthy is simply staying within some calorie boundaries while eating lean protein, lots of fruits and vegetables, and whole grains. If it fits into my calorie plan, and I want it, I'll eat it. By default, I am avoiding nutrient poor calorie dense foods like pizza, ice cream, cake, pasta, and so on. I have always had an interest in macrobiotics...maybe some day I will go for it totally...I guess I consider that the ultimate holy grail of "healthy eating."
I go for "as much as I can" and settle for "as much as I can reasonably and realistically achieve."
I do try to choose the healthier options with processed foods, like whole grain breads and pasta. I eat packaged salad dressing because I tried to make my own and the effort felt overwhelming to me to try to get something I liked as much as the packaged stuff. I figured I'm better off eating and enjoying my salad every day, rather than make it into an ordeal of dressing making, which I know would end up making me go off track if the effort felt like it was too much.
For me, the biggest issues is sustainability - if it's not something I can keep up with over time, then it's not a realistic long term change for me. I'm viewing my current eating plan as a lifetime commitment, so I try to be reasonable about what I commit to. As a single mom of a young child, I have to pick my battles (so to speak) and if that sometimes means a trade off for processed food, I know I'm still MILES ahead of where I was just a few months ago.
I also totally agree with what Glory and Mandalinn said about treats - I have been mostly abstaining at this point because my excitement at being at the beginning of this journey is enough for right now. But I know that eventually, that enthusiasm will wane a little bit and having the occassional treat to look forward to will be a tool to help keep me on track overall.
Oh - I am a maintainer - I slowly allowed treats back into my life when I reached goal. I didn't have treats while I was actively losing (except for my birthday and Christmas). I was so excited by my progress that I didn't miss treats at the time. I enjoy them now, though!
Sign me onto Glory's post - my pastry-type treats came onto the scene only after I got to maintenance. I didn't indulge like that during active weight loss.
I avoid most processed foods. Some things I eat for convenience, like granola bars or special k bars, but for the most part I really try to avoid it. I do enjoy a drink a few times a week (I have several friends I meet up with on a regular basis, just for one or two). And I also treat myself to some dark chocolate. I'm trying to maintain now, and one of the things I have to do is aim for the number of calories I was eating when I was losing weight. Because I generally get hungry and need a little more, but not always. So I figure if I go over some days, I'll end up maintaining and the other days are a bonus.
I go for "as much as I can" and settle for "as much as I can reasonably and realistically achieve."
This is how I see things. There's an ideal "me" and then there's what happens.
Ideally, I would live on a farm, raise my own chickens and cows, collect brown eggs, grow a lush vegetable garden that naturally had no bugs and grow apple trees that produced fruit year round. I really would love a world like that. I do believe that we weren't meant to eat anything unnatural. I believe in eating homemade everything right down to homemade yogurt. But I don't live in that world so I'll eat just about anything in moderation. My basic meals consist of whole foods found in nature or made from nature. But I'll have a handful of chips at a Superbowl party, ice cream from the store, pizza and macaroni and cheese. Usually though my day consists of ONE processed item and everything else is as natural as I can get it. Usually. Not always.
Heck, anything is better than an entire diet made up of processed junk. For any newbies out there, just choose one natural food, like an apple over one processed food every day and that's an improvement.
My daily diet consists fundamentally of raw or cooked veggies (spinach, carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, brussels sprouts, green and red peppers, cabbage, broccoli, onions and garlic, yams), low-glycemic fresh or frozen fruit (blueberries, cranberry juice, grapefruit, occasionally an apple or seasonal fruit like cherries), dairy products (nonfat milk, nonfat yogurt, nonfat cottage cheese), meat/fish (chicken, ground turkey, pork, salmon, tuna, eggs), and nuts/legumes (almonds, peanut butter, beans). I also drink some black and green tea, and I chew some sugarless gum, because I need to have my mouth occupied pretty frequently to help me deal with stress/anxiety. Eating this way means I usually get 120 to 150 grams of protein per day.
I don't eat any grains on a daily basis; on the weekends I may have a piece of homemade whole-wheat bread, toasted, with poached or scrambled eggs. Or occasionally we make our chicken and veggies or fish and veggies and put that in a whole-wheat tortilla at dinner. I find that I mostly don't need grains for a satisfying diet; and some of them I cut out deliberately because they gave me terrible gas (oats, I found--so sad because I do love oatmeal).
I use/eat fats like olive oil, canola oil, butter, and mayonnaise when they're called for in a recipe or a meal and don't fear them. Fat is not my enemy. I usually get about 70 grams of fat per day (including from fish oil supplement, see below). I also eat some cheese when I want it and just make sure it's worked into my plan.
I don't regularly eat sugar or sweeteners beyond the 1 oz of honey I use in the evening to make myself a cup of hot chocolate (part of my dairy foods for the day). I don't miss the huge quantities of sugar I used to eat at all. Things like milk, almonds, and even spinach taste sweet to me now.
I don't regularly drink caffeinated coffee, though I love it and miss it perhaps more than anything else I've given up, because it does two very bad things to me: It very subtly causes poor sleep, and it very definitely increases my insulin resistance and worsens my blood sugar control. I allow myself one cup of caffeinated coffee on Saturdays, and knowing I can feel that buzz once a week keeps me fairly satisfied.
I take supplements: Fish oil, calcium, vitamin D, and melatonin.
It took me a year and a half of incremental changes to develop the way that I eat now; it certainly was not an overnight type of change. The first thing I did was cut out caffeinated coffee. The second thing I did was cut out sugar. And after doing those two things, the rest of it was all about getting more veggies into my diet, for the most part.
To me, this is healthy eating for me. But my diet is not necessarily the right diet for every body. I have fine-tuned it a lot as I have observed how my body responds; for example, the large quantities of milk foods I eat might not work for another person due to lactose intolerance or simple dislike. Or, another person might tolerate caffeine just fine, whereas I don't.
My brother has an amazing standard; the only thing that he'll eat with a pre-printed label is olive oil. And while I don't set nearly such a high standard for myself, it does make me think about everything I pick up that wrapped in plastic.
To all of you ladies, in your own words, what do you consider 'eating healthy'?
Leaning as much as possible to whole foods in correct portions for my age/height/weight. I'm talking diabetic/dietetic standard exchange serving sizes, not whatever weird package label size is printed.
What are your personal standards? And how flexible are you with them?
I consider myself flexitarian. I've been through phases of flexitarian, lacto-ovo vegetarian, and near vegan and back again through different phases of my life. I was probably the strictest near vegan when my daughter was new and we were navigating that newborn infant through eating solids phase. I didn't want anything in my breastmilk to bother her and I wanted to bring her along very slowly to solids. Right now I'm addressing blood sugar and a possible wheat thing, so I'm more on the "caveman" end of flexitarian.
Where possible I buy organic produce and meats, and where possible I just skip the dairy. I do not believe it is necessary -- all animals wean. To me dairy is on the "fun food" list. But if we're going to have it, I shoot for organic.
I have PCOS, and for me reducing the hormone load in my food helps a lot with this wacky hormone condition. The highest concentrations are in the animal foods. I also consider the dirty dozen for pesticides in produce when I shop, but if I have only one place in the budget to get the organic it's going to be in the animal foods.
Do you (want to) eat healthy all/most of the time, or do you settle with half of the time--or even less?
Most of the time is good enough. I try to keep the fun foods to a minimum and really reserved for fun times like Christmas or birthday. There's no need to be doing it daily. Then it's not a "treat" any more and in the past I turned to "treats" too much anyway from emotional eating.
I try to be open and flexible within reason but still on track.
Is it possible to go overboard and if you feel so... when?
But it doesn't have to go to that extreme for me to consider it overboard -- when you no longer have pleasure in eating and sharing the table with family and friends... the communal aspect? You know?
What IS "eating healthy"?
I really would love a world like that. I do believe that we weren't meant to eat anything unnatural. I believe in eating homemade everything right down to homemade yogurt. But I don't live in that world so I'll eat just about anything in moderation. My basic meals consist of whole foods found in nature or made from nature. But I'll have a handful of chips at a Superbowl party, ice cream from the store, pizza and macaroni and cheese. Usually though my day consists of ONE processed item and everything else is as natural as I can get it. Usually. Not always.
The highest concentrations are in the animal foods. I also consider the dirty dozen for pesticides in produce when I shop, but if I have only one place in the budget to get the organic it's going to be in the animal foods.