Counting Calor... Nutrients!

You can't get too much of a good thing right?  Well, technically when it comes to food even if you are eating all the right things you can still eat too much of it to actually lose any weight so I decided to start tracking my food again on My Fitness Pal a couple of weeks ago.  I LOVE My Fitness Pal.  It's so easy to use AND now they have a page that tracks your nutrients to show how you are doing throughout the day.  Here's what you can track:

Micronutrients:  Iron, Calcium, Potassium, Vitamin A, C
Macronutrients:  Fat, Protein and Carbohydrates. 

I decided to focus only on the micronutrients to see what it would look like.  I found that when I look mostly at those numbers and make sure I'm eating foods that get me to 100%, the fat is low, the carbohydrates come from healthy sources and the protein works itself out.  I don't usually get the system's recommended number on protein but I get the minimum required for me which is 30 grams (more about that below).  I'm not going to get on my soap box about protein in this blog but does anyone even know what the word is for protein deficiency?  NO!  WHY?  Because it doesn't happen in America unless you are not EATING enough food... period.  OK enough of that for now. 

Also when I focus on the micronutrients I am full at every meal, it lasts until the next meal AND I stay within my calorie budget.  Have I found the mystery to satisfying healthy eating???  It's pretty awesome!  If you want to connect with me on My Fitness Pal I'm listed as Drarceneaux.  I share my journal with my friends so you can see what I'm eating.  Here's an example of a day and the results:

Breakfast	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
Grape nuts - Grape Nuts, 0.5 cup	210	44	1	8	290	5
Silk soymilk - Soymilk, 0.5 cup	50	5	2	3	50	4
Craisins - Dried Cranberries, 0.06 of a cup	29	7	0	0	0	6
Coffee w trivia, 1 serving(s)	42	6	2	0	25	6
	331	62	5	11	365	21
Lunch
Broccoli - Broccoli Steamed, 1.25 cup	38	5	0	3	38	2
Black Beans - Black Beans, 1 cup	144	26	0	10	608	2
Carrot - Medium, 2 medium carrot (61g)	50	12	0	1	84	6
Cucumber - With peel, raw, 0.5 cup slices	8	2	0	0	1	1
Balsamic Vinegar - Balsamic Vinegar, 0.5 tbsp	7	1	0	0	2	1
Watermelon - Raw, 0.25 cup, balls	12	3	0	0	0	2
	258	49	1	15	733	14
Dinner
Curried Chic Peas With Apples, 1 serving(s)	237	40	6	8	309	8
Dole - Bananas, 1 banana	100	27	0	1	1	14
	337	67	6	9	310	22
Snacks
Coco Polo - 70% Dark Chocolate Sweetened With Stevia With Tart Montmorency Cherries, 20 g	85	11	7	1	5	3
Watermelon - Raw, 1.5 cup, balls	69	17	0	1	2	14
	154	28	7	2	7	17
Totals	1,081	206	20	37	1,415	75
Your Daily Goal	1,200	150	40	60	2,300	45
Remaining	119	-56	20	22	885	-29
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar

Here's what the Micronutrients looked like that day:

Potassium - 3091 consumed, 3500 recommended
Vitamin A - over by 491%
Vitamin C - over by 174%
Calcium - 45%, should have used my remaining calories on a cup of coconut milk
Iron - over by 48%

Cholesterol - 0

5 shocking things I learned when staring only at micronutrients: 

1. 1/2 cup of Grape Nuts has 90% of your iron!  
2. Watermelon, which I LOVE is an excellent source of Potassium, Vitamin A and C 
3. Black Beans are a great source of protein, potassium and iron
4. Most important:  Dark chocolate cherries has IRON!
5. A big pan of broccoli will fill you up immensely and give you protein, potassium AND 168% of your Vitamin C! 

When you are eating mostly plants you get a bigger "bang for your calories", you get to rack up the micronutrients and here it is...  EAT MORE FOOD!  When you throw in the meat for protein purposes your whopping number of calories also get you more fat and cholesterol that you DON'T need just to get more protein that you really aren't deficient in.  The recommendation is 10-25% of your calories in protein.  So if my calorie intake is 1200 and each gram of protein equals 4 calories then my minimum should be 30 grams.  I am usually over the minimum every day.  If I'm working out I may use my exercise calories for additional plant protein.  It's not that big of a deal.  I don't need the meat for the protein or the iron.  The only other nutrient I need to make sure I get is B12.  Most plant powered people supplement.  I have found a great supplement that works on multiple levels and gives me 100% of my B12.  You can see the information here.  If you want to try it I can get it for you. 

So before doing this I was trusting that I was getting everything I needed from plants but now I know I'm covered.  That's a great feeling!

Coming CLEAN

So it's been a while since I have "come clean" with how I'm doing on this journey.  Partly because I wasn't sure the 4 followers I still have even care and partly because I wasn't really sure where I was.  This has been a struggle of a journey in some respects.  But too I think that looking back and seeing the big picture I find that I am completely normal.

I started out with a strong desire to find perfect, incredible health.  That "oneness" with your body that comes from eating clean and being consciously aware of what you are putting in your body.  I believe I felt that on some level and stayed there for a little while.  The better I ate the better I felt, the more obstacles I overcame the more confident I was that I could do this.  It became habit and some of those habits still remain.  There are some people who can do perfect 100% of the time.  Or maybe we have the illusion that they do.  I will never know.  I know that for someone who has struggled MY WHOLE LIFE - it's hard to be all in 100% of the time.  I also know I am not alone in this and it is THOSE people I want to reach in this blog.  The perfect people are not reading this blog.  They are reading blogs from the greats like Rich Roll and Matt Frazier.  And those guys are reading blogs from their greats.  We are all trying to better ourselves and I'm not saying I'm better than anyone else.  I do know that I have a passion for health and wellness.  I have a strong desire to motivate and inspire others to better health.  To do that I have to be real with you.  And I have to be real with myself. 

So you read about my struggles around my birthday.  I pulled myself out of it occasionally and then went on a trip to LA for a conference.  I went a couple of days early to see the sights.  I was by myself and on a seriously tight budget.  I brought my shakes with me so I could add water and get lots of nutrients when needed.  I found TONS of restaurants that catered to my hippie foodstyle (I think I just made that up because I hate the word "diet").  Mentally I felt great!  My energy was the most positive it has ever been and if I were not rooted in God and His purpose for my life I would have thought moving to California would help me "find myself".  But I don't need to do that.  When I got back from my trip it was evident to those in my daily life that I had changed.  My energy was different.  I had no idea what that meant or what to do with it all and I FREAKED!  In an odd way I shut down.  I didn't know what to do next.  I didn't know how to bring home all that positive energy and make something with it.  I couldn't be alone with my thoughts because they didn't make sense.  In time I may figure it out but for the time being I have learned to live with it.  I know that was a major kill of the climax to my story but that's all I can say right now.  No major resolutions except to say I believe God has a plan so much bigger than me and little by little He is helping me along.

So the holidays took it's toll because my head was not in the game.  Overall not that bad but sweets played a bigger role than I had hoped.  A majority of the time I have eaten really well but old habits die hard.  Mexican habits die harder.  SOOOO I suffered through another cleanse.   Just ended yesterday.  It jump started the weight loss but the best part was it helped me find that happy place where I'm treating my body to the good things.  I'm drinking the happy shakes that make me feel like I just got up from a good nap within 10 minutes.  And the best part about it is:  I'm not starting over.  I'm not "getting back on the wagon" because I refuse to look at this as something I can't do.  I think we do that all too often.  We make ourselves feel like everything we have done is for naught because we weren't perfect for a while.  We learn a lot about ourselves, our plan, our self talk during that time.

I know what to expect this time.  I know the pitfalls both emotionally and physically and I know I can either choose to allow it or choose to fight.  I hope I choose to fight this time because this feeling is so worth it.  I will be blogging more often so hopefully the 4 of you will have something to read a couple of times a week.  Thank you for sticking with me.  If the journey to better health is a struggle for you just know you are not alone.  You are completely normal.  The question is:  are you willing to come clean and fight?