So, what the heck should I eat??

  I think with the scores and scores and mountains and mountains of information that has been written in our culture about dieting and nutrition in recent years, it has left some people confused as to what the heck they SHOULD be eating. I like to keep it simple. In a nutshell this is the way I eat:

 I would add more healthy fats (nuts and seed ARE healthy fats, but there are a lot more) to this list, but other than that this is pretty accurate to the way *I* eat. I do eat a bit of dairy in the form of some kind of fermented source like Kefir, or Chobani yogurt. I rarely eat grains. And by rarely, I mean maybe once a week. I find that I feel better.....LEANER, without the grains and the dairy in my diet. But I had to come to these conclusions for myself, through experimentation.
 If I have sugar, it is either in the form of wine or beer(rarely) or a treat at a celebratory family event. As a rule I don't eat any "sweet things" during my day. Not sweet tea, not sweetened coffees, not donuts (hard), not the occasional cookie or piece of candy. And I don't have these things in my house. I feel like, as a society, we have become all too comfortable with sugar. For me, I put sugar in that special, celebratory category, and I find that I enjoy it's flavor and taste so much more than I did before. It is a special "treat". And I think thats where it belongs.
 My plate is typically half full of some sort of vegetables, and then about one quarter full of some kind of meat or poultry or seafood.One or two meals a day I eat starches as well ( usually sweet potatoes or squash).
  I  get 2 servings of fruit a day. Once at breakfast (handful of blueberries, orange slices or 1/2 banana) and then again after I work out. After my work out I will throw in 1/2 banana or frozen berries into my protein shake.
  I eat every three hours after breakfast all the way till dinner. This has probably been the single change that has helped me the most. As soon as I started doing this I realized that my mood swings stopped and my energy levels went up and my cravings vanished! So, yeah. Everyone likes mom eating every 3 hours. :-)
  Nuts and seeds make great snacks, so I have them around all the time. And as I said before I get healthy fats throughout the day in the form of avocados, nuts and nut butters. And I cook everything in  liberal olive oil, grape seed oil, or coconut oil.
  The main things I steer clear of are processed foods of all kinds and processed sugar of all kinds. I don't do fast food or sodas at all.
  As I said earlier, I had to come to these conclusions about what made ME feel the best, through experimentation. Once I knew how much better I felt adding a lot more nutritious food into my diet and taking OUT a lot of junk, it was a no brainer. I LIKE feeling good and having energy.
  So my advice is to experiment for yourself. Go grain free and add in a whole ton of vegetables, eat more protein, cut out fast food and soda, drink more water. If you need help in the transition you can always try the Whole 30. These folks have gotten it down to a science. And it's free!
And of course, my online personal training program provides nutritional planning as well as work outs for you to do, that will fit into YOUR personal lifestyle, with what YOU have available. And  I will be there every step of the way to guide you, motivate you and cheer you on during this process. Just send me an "Im interested, Melissa!" email to Trainwithmeliss@gmail.com and I will send you the information on how it works.
 It is a journey. And the beginning is tough. But it is one you will never regret having undertaken. So keep it simple. Concentrate on good meats,  lots of good vegetables, no junk, no sugar. Eat the foods that your body was DESIGNED to eat. Just keep going.
~Melissa