Just about a month and half ago I changed my eating style. I trimmed all my meal sizes down by about 20%. I am now living quite happily at my goal weight and fitness level. Here’s one other thing I did during those 30 days of new-habit creation. I started eating more salads as meals. Know what I discovered? When I eat salads the size of my meal can be much bigger than when I eat other stuff – like Mexican food, Indian food, or pasta for example.
My Beautiful Monster Taco Salad
Usually I serve my meals on a salad plate and my food doesn’t even come close to filling the plate. In fact it looks pretty tiny. But when I have a salad as a meal I get a mental treat. I get to splurge and make this humongous looking meal that is really loaded with nutrients and low on calories. I love it! It gets me all excited – like I’m getting a special treat. I put my salad in a pasta bowl and I pile it on.
Here it is from the side. See how tall it is??? Mmmmmm.
Last night I had a taco salad. A big monster taco salad. I made it mostly with veggies from our own garden. I loaded up that sucker with two kinds of lettuce, carrots, zucchini, cucumber, cilantro, green onions, four colors of bell peppers, two kinds of tomatoes, avocado and corn. Then I sautéed up a few pieces of seasoned tempeh, crumbled some Veggie and Flaxseed Chips from Trader Joes, and heated up about a ¼ cup of black beans. I threw all that in with the mountain of veggies. I topped it all off with some green salsa and about 2 tablespoons of vegan sour cream. My bowl was piled high. It was monstrous. And 95% of it was all fresh, wonderful, low cal veggies. The stuff we can all chow down without a smidgen of guilt. REAL FOOD!
I felt like I was eating a feast and yet . . . . I didn’t feel stuffed or full at the end. Wonderful. I felt satisfied, and really good. My meal had protein, carbs, fiber, healthy fats, vitamins, . . . all the good stuff our bodies need. There’s just an amazing feeling you get when you eat really good, real food. It actually just give me a rush. I was ready to do my evening workout and weighed in perfectly at the end of the day. Right at my ideal weight even though I ate a huge meal.
Try doing salads as meals more often. If you aren’t in the salad-eating habit, start with having one a week as a meal. And I mean AS YOUR MEAL, not on the side. Then aim for twice a week. You are going to love the way it makes you feel.
No comments:
Post a Comment