At my yoga class today one of my students asking:
“So I guess you are vegetarian” …
Me: “ehm….No, I am not:)” Why do you think?
She: Because I thought all the yoga teachers are vegetarians…
Recently I met at the grocery shop one friend and looking shocked at spotting a bread in my shopping trolley she cried.
“Wow!!!! do you eat bread? I though bread is not healthy for us!”
🙂 It always surprise me how media managed to misinform and delude people about food last few decades.
So I just want to put things right.
We are all different..Different body constitution, blood group, gender, age, we are differently physically active during the day and have different ancestors, health goals and desires. This all defines what we should be eating. There isn’t a single formula what is healthy and what is not. Well I can think of few things which are definitely not healthy and is better to stay off them but that is for another post.
Despite the fact I am yoga teacher I do eat mat. In fact I love meet. I personally didn’t know one have to become a vegetarian to become a good yoga teacher. I tried to be vegetarian and I gave up as it was not good for my mental neither physical health. If you want to be a vegetarian with adequate diet you actually really need to spend loads f time thinking about what goes into your stomach. I wasn’t ready for such a commitment. Especially because I didn’t feel strongly about the idea of giving up a meat.
Now the hugely discussed bread and wheat products. Well ….after I read few scientific evidence based books (the best one Grain Brain) I have to say I can see a reason why wheat is not only good for our digestive truck but also not for our nervous system, brain including. Despite that I do eat bread occasionally. I experimented with Paleo diet quite a lot and I have to say I felt amazing. Though it is not sustainable in my case. We do travel a lot and being on Paleo diet is just so difficult when you have not an access to your kitchen or your local restaurants. It becomes very limited and put lots of pressure on my mind to choose and look for Paleo diet at the airports, planes and petrol stops . So many times I gave up , breaking the Paleo diet and switching to grains messed up my body for several weeks.
So I do eat a bread. I try to always go for better quality anf I think of it as a cucumber. I also don’t eat cucumber for my breakfast, lunch and dinner and snacks in one day.
My guideline for staying healthy, full of energy and keeping my weight stable is:
- Eat loads of veggies. I try to have with each meal half of the plate filled with variety of vegetables.
- Eat at least 80% home made food.
- Have at least 1 meet free day.
- Have a treat once-twice a week.For me that is variation of a chocolate cake:)
- Have 1 serving size of fruit each day. (for example 1 apple or 1 cup of berries)
- Stop eating when you feel 80% full
- Eat slowly
- Eat when you are hungry. That means sometimes I have snack, sometimes I don’t.
- Eat quality products. Rather spend little bit more on a good stuff.
- Drink a loads of natural water. Spice it up with lemon or lime if you get tired of the plain water taste.
- Sleep enough. For me that is 8 hours.
- Exercise every day. Even if that exercise means to get off the bus 2 stops ahead and walk 30 min.
Remember this is a guideline. We are just humans and it is not possible to follow it 100%. Becoming obsessive with your food can cause a serious harm to your mental health.
