The moral of the story is that as a kid I’ve been told (implicitly and explicitly) that you have to have meat as part of a “healthy” nourishing meal. My breakfast had deli in the sandwiches, my lunch (which in Europe is a main meal of the day) had to have meat and my supper was again my trusty sandwich with deli. That was it, I was an omnivore going on to be a carnivore… because they instilled in me this idea that if you don’t eat meat at every meal, you somehow don’t give your body the necessary building blocks, that somehow your meal isn’t complete if you don’t include meat in it!!

Mind you, I was never overweight as a child, if anything, I was underweight. I’d be told constantly to eat more, because my frame was too bony. All those potatoes and meat combos were not doing it for me. Or was it my metabolism that was through the roof, not letting me put on too much weight, burning all those calories? Or maybe it was the fact that snacking only happened once a month, when parents got paid? Yes, we did not snack on chips, chocolate, sodas etc etc everyday, but about once a month….

Then I moved out and didn’t think twice about changing anything. What’s more, by moving to North America I found myself in the land of plenty and of convenience! I learned that I don’t need to spend hours and hours preparing the food, I can buy it already prepared and simply put it in the oven, wait 30-45 minutes and then serve it! How convenient indeed! Snacks were abundant as well. I didn’t all of a sudden become a rich person, far from it, but “food” was much cheaper on this side of the North Atlantic Ocean! My blind infatuation with this overabundance lasted about 4-5 years, that’s how long it took me to realize I was slowly killing myself with “this convenience”! All my adult life I was about 50-53kg, now I was weighting a whooping 70kg! For a while I was convincing myself that it was due to the fact that I “just” gave birth to my child. But the weight would never come off, that is until I saw my nutrition habits for what they really were – JUNK.

To make a long story short, fortunately I have informed myself on the deadly habits I’ve been subjecting my body to and understood what had to be done to reverse those 5 years of junk in the trunk. I’ve ditched all processed foods and turned to natural healthy ones. I shed my extra weight and was finally back to my original jeans. Since then another 5 years passed, my weight fluctuated a bit and today I find myself at a point where I’m overflowing with information on food, food industry and treatment of our food and I’m no longer happy with the choices I’m making mostly because I no longer know what’s in the food I’m consuming and feeding to my family! I’ve watched countless documentaries on the food industry and can no longer subject myself to the garbage they produce. So after reading on raw foodism, vegetarianism and veganism I finally decided it is time to abandon meat and most meat products and turn even more to natural foods like vegetables, fruits, nuts, grains and seeds. I’ve contemplated the idea for a while, by reading various blogs on the matter and I must admit it was slow coming. Simply put it was difficult for me to envision my life without meat. Upon learning about my conversion my geek even pointed out that he has suggested ditching the meat a while back to which I “freaked out” saying that there won’t be anything else to eat for us. I don’t recall this outburst. Needless to say today is my 3rd day without ANY meat and these are some of the meals I’ve been consuming:

Zucchini spaghetti with home made tomato sauce

Spinach salad with nutritional yeast

Creamy pepper soup

Curry Lentil crackers with Sweet pepper hemp pesto

In the end, after reading on my options I decided that this is going to be a semi-rawlacto-vegeterian diet, which means that many of my meals are going to be raw (as in not cooked) and I will forego all meat and eggs, but will from time to time allow dairy products (I just can’t see myself not eating yogurt for now).

I first heard about Tosca Reno and Clean-eating from a friend who had a subscription to the Oxygen magazine. I gave it a try and soon started buying the magazine each time it came out. Then came the cookbooks and books on clean-eating. I’ve enjoyed them all, scaled back on the magazines, since they became repetitive. The books don’t really bring anything new either. Nevertheless, I did purchase the latest cookbook that’s entirely devoted to recipes, which I greatly appreciated. All in all it’s a good cookbook, very nicely presented, with shiny pages, hardcover and clear and concise recipes. I do like the presentation a lot. Pictures are not always of prime quality, but most are appealing.

There are couple of things that do bother me about this particular cookbook:

1.  The use of obscure terminology and spices – it seems like she wants to create mystery and at the same time confusion by trying to integrate other cultures in the recipes. I’m not closed to the idea of trying new spices, but she goes overboard with it, since some of us if not most of us, don’t have access to fancy exotic ingredients.

2. Another thing that really gets to me is the impression I get after flipping through the book that she is desperately trying to appeal to the North America consumer who cannot envision  meal without potatoes! I found about 15 recipes that called for some form of potato! I understand she is trying to make them into healthy meals, but the truth is potato is a mostly useless starch that sends your pancreas into an overproduction of insulin, especially when mixed with fats and protein. So my only conclusion is that she is trying to make sure that the cookbook will be well received by North Americans wanting their fill of potato.

3. Another pet-peeve of mine, which is strictly speaking me being picky, is misuse of the French language – it should read “beans à la Tosca” not “beans alla Tosca”

If you don’t mind the potato overload in the book, you will like what she has to offer. Now, I have not tried out all the recipes yet, so I cannot judge the ease of use or weather or not the meals come out as promised. I do have a favourite, though. It’s the Hazelnut espresso cookies, they are divine, but you do have to restrain yourself from eating a whole batch at once, after all it’s just egg whites and brown sugar.

Enjoy!

It’s not always this bad, but in most cases it’s quite difficult to be fed properly in a hotel. Sometimes even the same chain restaurant will offer distinctly different food. The worst hotel that I can envision is the one located somewhere on the highway in the middle of nowhere and without a restaurant. They then offer a breakfast nook.  So how can one manage in this situation? Well, in the morning you can try their complimentary breakfast. You’ll be lucky if they offer scrambled eggs and a slice of bacon for a protein-fat breakfast, other times you might not be as lucky and  your only option might be a beef patty and white flour pancake with some yellow goop. I would not recommend consuming the option two breakfast at all, since it gives you nothing in terms of nutrition, but plenty in terms of saturated fats and empty calories. Look around, they will surly have some fruit and all you’ll have left to do is to load up on those. They will also have pastries in form of muffins and croissants, I would stay away from those since they are not any better than the above mentioned pancake – made out of white flour (bad because it’s stripped of its fibre), white sugar (0% nutrition and 100% bad for you since it spikes up your insulin levels) and other unnecessary additives. You might also be tempted by their yogurts, since they will stock up on commercial yogurts with health claims, don’t eat them! Most of them, if they don’t contain sugar they will contain some other artificial sweetener, they will have corn starch and modified corn starch –  you don’t want starch in yogurt, you want protein! A commercially made yogurt contains the following 16 (!!) and up ingredients: Skim milk, cream, fructose, concentrated skim milk, sugar, strawberries (or other fruit), milk and whey protein concentrate, corn starch, gelatin, modified corn starch, natural and artificial flavours, active bacterial cultures, natural color, carageenan, sodium citate, malic acid. What you want in a yogurt (preferably no fat) is the following 3 (!!) ingredients: Ultrafiltrated organic skim milk, bacterial culture, milk protein concentrate. But unfortunately that yogurt will not be displayed on their shelves. Why? Because the commercially made yogurt is full of CORN starch and production of corn is heavily subsidized by US government so anything that contains some form of corn as FILLER  is going to be way cheaper than a product that contains nothing but milk in it. But that’s a topic for another discussion.

So while in a hotel, opt for fruit, get yourself a bag of raw almonds at the airport or if you can stop at a grocery store on the way to the hotel or go hungry. Whatever you do, don’t succumb to their level, don’t be tempted to say ”screw it, it’s just a couple of days, I won’t die if I eat some questionable food”. Instead say “screw it, my body deserves to be treated right!” If you do have a chance to eat at a restaurant there are a few tips you can follow to make sure you’re eating right: ask for dressing on the side and only use a dribble not the whole container of it, when possible substitute bagels/potatoes/rice/pasta for some green veggies if it’s not possible just tell them not to include it in your order so you won’t be tempted to eat it, you can also pick a meal that has lean protein.

Nevertheless it’s tough!

</RANT OFF>

• yogurt + nuts+berries
• black coffee, water

Snack @ 9:30

• mandarine

Lunch @ 11:30

• chicken breast + guacamole
• water

Snack @15:30

• mandarine
• water

Supper @ 19:30

• Trout
• green beans
• mushroom
• wine
• water

Many people subscribe to the idea that you can loose weight by counting calories. What that means is that they will follow a low calorie intake diet to lose weight. In principle it does work, but in reality it doesn’t. To prove it you can take as an example an extreme case of a concentration camp worker. Yes, I know it’s quite an extreme case, but indulge me for a moment. We all know the image of him being a very skinny individual and we know from history that he was fed a very poor, low-calorie, low-nutrient diet. That is extreme and nobody will go to that extent today to lose weight (or so I hope so), but it does prove that you will even loose cellulite if you limit your food intake. Now, why doesn’t it work in reality ? Well, because we’ll feel hunger and having food at the tips of our fingers we will have to succumb and have some and in that way we’ll cross our calorie limit for any given day, whatever it might be. There is another reason why calorie counting alone won’t work and it’s the fact that we have to look at the source of that calorie, because all calories are not equal…..

Calorie = calorie regardless where it comes from

In many cases those of you who count their calories often times don’t pay much attention to where the calories came from, you are most concerned with the number at the end of the day. So you might pull out your trusty notepad where you make note of every single calorie you eat during the day and in principle once you arrive at the magic number you are supposed to stop eating. However, by not paying attention to where those calories come from you add to your failure to lose weight, because not all calories are equal. To prove it let’s compare the nutritional value of a Big Mac and that of raw broccoli:

1 Big Mac

• 215 grams
• 576 calories
• 292 calories from fat
• 12 grams of saturated fat (bad)
• 103 mg of Cholesterol (bad)
• 742mg of Sodium (bad)
• 47 grams of Carbs (mostly bad, coming from white bread)
• 24 grams of Protein (coming from fat meal, not good)

Broccoli

• 2000 grams!! – To get the same calorie intake from broccoli we need to 10 times as much in weight of raw broccoli!!!
• 560 calories
• 59 calories from fat
• 1 gram of saturated fat
• 0.2 grams of Monounsaturated fats (good)
• 0.8 grams of Polyunsaturated fats (good)
• 420 mg of Omega-3 fatty acids (GREAT)
• 340 mg of Omega-6 fatty acids (good)
• 0 mg of Cholesterol
• 540 mg of Sodium
• 52 grams of dietary Fibre (good for being regular)
• 34 grams sugar (we’re talking naturally occurring sugar, of course)
• 56 grams of lean Protein (Yayyyy)
• Vitamin C  2900% of necessary daily intake!!
• Vitamin A  249% of necessary daily intake!!
• Calcium 94% of necessary daily intake
• Iron 81% of necessary daily intake

As long as I exercise it doesn’t matter what I eat

No, exercise is not enough to lose weight and keep it off. But you shouldn’t take my word for it, have a look:

exercise

The reasoning behind this theory can be found in this article which claims that we don’t lose weight by following an exercise regimen only, because exercise makes us hungry and in many cases, those who do not pay special attention to diet, follow their exercise sessions by a Big Mac with fries as a reward for having exercised. I would go even further by saying that even if you don’t indulge in a Big Mac after your workout you still have to watch what you put in your mouth.

Let me illustrate by giving you two examples from my life: 5-6 years ago, I was somewhat overweight, uncomfortably overweight for my liking (weighed about 70kg or 155lbs). I decided to follow a dietary regimen that excluded refined grains, white sugar, white flour and was abundant in lean protein, fibre, fruits and veggies. I also took up Pilates – a mild form of exercise, no cardio. I ate 3 times a day, I lost all the unnecessary baggage in 6-7 months and weighed 53-55kg at the end of my regimen, which was fine by me. Later I picked up 5-7kg (11-15lbs), which added a roll or two in few places. It didn’t take me long to join a gym this time, I wanted it to seem more serious than my pilates and I also wanted to lose the extra kgs faster. But I didn’t do the same to my diet, as I didn’t restrict it as much as I did the first time. I still didn’t eat any refined grains, white sugar etc, but I ate a lot. I ate 5-6 meals a day, provoked in part by hunger inducing strenuous exercise (lots of cardio and weight lifting) So what ended up happening was me eating my breakfast, followed by lunch-like meal at 10, at 1 and  3, followed by a regular supper! My meals were not per say unhealthy, but the amount at the end of the day was probably in the upper limits or over. Result? The scale did not budge a millimetre and my clothes size was the same. So what I did burn during exercise I neutralized or added in calories eaten right after. So am I going against my 1st point of low-calorie diets don’t work? No, not really. I’m just saying that if you ever come across people from the bodybuilding industry who tell you that you should eat 5-6 meals a day, that doesn’t mean you should triple your lunch intake! That just means that next to healthy size breakfast, lunch and supper you should add two snacks (mid-morning and mid-afternoon) that include either a small portion of lean protein or good carbs. For example you could have a handful of almonds or a fruit.

The conclusion is clear, for the exercise to be effective you have tochange your eating habits and ditch the Big Mac or Gaterade after workout!

Your genetics predetermine your figure – if my mother is obese so will I.

I guess it depends on who you listen to. Most sources agree though that it’s the recent environmental changes that are to blame for the obesity epidemic indirectly and people themselves directly. Genetics do play some role in what you look like, in that they determine your body build and shape. However, whether or not you’re obese or slim has more to do with your eating habits than with what your parents are like. Of course, if you eat like them, you will also look like them.

This article claims that according to a UK study obesity is genetically predetermined because obese children lack a piece of DNA, which as a result “kicks their hunger into overdrive.” In other words, those kids cannot stop eating because they are always hungry. Now, to me that’s a poor excuse for obesity. I’m not denying that this DNA abnormality is making them more hungry than the rest of us, but I bet you any money that to “satiate” this hunger they are not eating carrots and salad, but McDonald’s! There is no reason not to eat 5-6 healthy meals a day to satiate any hunger. I guess there is another problem with these kids and that’s that they cannot tell when they are full and when to stop eating. Well, that’s a parent’s job. It’s the parent who should implement portion size control and only give their child enough to eat for healthy development. And when the child screams for more, how about a carrot stick ?

So you might be genetically susceptible to obesity, but it’s the environment and your choices that determine what you read on the scale.

The best indicator of how much weight I lost is what my scale tells me

This assumption gets many people off the exercise wagon in early stages of a new exercise/nutrition regimen. I guess it’s the society in which we live that promotes instant gratification – you started to eat healthy and exercise and you want to see results right away. And when it comes to weight loss you want to see the scale move downwards right away. The problem is that you might not see it move right away if you are not morbidly obese. So you should look for your instant gratification in the way your clothes fit you, not in what the scale tells you. If all of a sudden your clothes get loose, it means that your healthy eating and exercise are working, even if the sale hasn’t moved. It will move eventually, if you have weight to lose. If there is no weight to lose, the scale might never move or even move upwards. Yes! If you’re eating well and exercising you are losing fat and gaining muscle and we all know that muscle weighs more than fat, therefore your weight might increase and only the size of your clothes will be an indicator for you that you are doing the right thing.

• Oats + berries
• water

Snack @ 9:30

• mandarine
• water

Lunch @ 11:30

• grilled chicken breast
• yogurt mint sauce
• broccoli
• water
• 70% chocolate

Snack @ 15:30

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Supper @ 19:30

• Grilled salmon
• Yogurt mint sauce
• guacamole
• asparagus
• water

• Oats and berries
• Coffee
• water

Snack @ 9:30

• 1 mandarine

Lunch @ 12:00

• 1 grilled chicken breast
• Handfull of broccoli
• Yogurt (no fat) dill sauce from last night ( I think I just learned how to efficiently  play with herbs in my food!!)

Supper @ 20:00

• 1 grilled chicken breast + grilled broccoli + mint yogurt sauce
• water

Snack – sunflowers

• Oats with berries – first carb breakfast in a while!!! My brain is feeling much better.
• Black coffee
• water

Snack @ 10:00

• 1 mandarine

Lunch @ 12:00

• Grilled chicken breast with homemade dill sauce and green beans
• water
• piece of 70% chocolate

Snack @ 3:00

• My leftover hermit cookie

Supper @ 7:00

• Salmon with yogourt dill sauce (not to confuse with the other dill sauce) and asparagus and mushrooms
• water
• wine

• Omelette with mushrooms, swiss cheese and ham (I picked out the ham)
• Coffee
• I’m sick of protein-fat breakfasts, can’t wait to get back home and get some carb breakfast in me!!!

Lunch @ 1:30

• Smoked salmon in lettuce with a drop of caesar salad dressing
• shredded cheese, capers and bacon bits
• water

Supper @ 8:00

• Handfull of peanuts ( didn’t feel like cooking, but in the end did cook myself lunch for monday, go figure)
• water