One of the ways
we manage on a very low monthly grocery budget is that we are not huge
eaters. I think we can all agree that in
America it is really easy to overeat.
Supersize portions have been the "normal" way of eating for a
long time and most Americans are overweight and over half of us are in or near
the obese category. Put quite simply, we
eat too much.
I've never been
a breakfast eater, which we've been told for eons is "the most important meal of
the day". My mother used to get so
frustrated with me because of this too, but I just wasn't ready for food first
thing and I'm still very much that way.
So are my children. We do not eat
food in the morning. Quite often we
don't each until lunchtime. Turns out
we've been intermittent fasting long before I even knew that was a thing.
A Sunday brunch
I always start
my day with black coffee and then about mid morning around 10:00 a.m. I will
fix myself a large flavored coffee with cream in it, no sugar or
sweetener. By noon I'm hungry and ready
to eat and so are my kiddos so we'll usually have lunch, which is typically
leftovers from the night before or I'll make a breakfast or we'll have
sandwiches. Then later in the evening
we'll have dinner. I'm only preparing two
meals a day and that is plenty of food for us.
Our meals tend to be rather simple
Along those
lines we eat a regular serving size and seldom go back for seconds. Serving sizes have grown a lot over time, but
if you actually look at what a true serving size of meat or pasta is you'd
probably be surprised to find it is much smaller than what is typically
consumed. We stick to true serving sizes
and bulk up on vegetables. I make a lot
of fresh salads and we eat a lot of vegetables.
When I do have seconds it is usually the salad I want more of.
By limiting our
portion sizes on meats and starches, the two most expensive items on the
grocery list we not only save money, but it helps us maintain a healthy weight
as well. By focusing on more veggies we
are adding better nutrition to our diet and feel satisfied after a meal.
Overall, we eat less often and we eat less food.
Yes, you were certainly "on trend" with your intermittant fasting before it was even a thing! I, too, try not to eat before noon.
ReplyDeleteI start my day with 3 cups of water. It's easiest to drink if it's room temp, so I try to set it out the night before.
Then I make bulletproof coffee with a scoop of collagen (for my hair and joints), a generous tsp of allulose (doesn't raise my blood sugar) and 2 tsps of refined coconut oil. I blend it all with a mini stick blender and it makes a luscious, rich mugful.
After coffee is finished, I fill up on water or refrigerator tea (made with a blend of herbal & black/green teas.
I am also trying to adjust portion sizes and to fill up on veggies when I feel hungry between meals and water/tea just aren't doing it.
The nice thing is that if I don't have a perfect day, I can always start new tomorrow.
This is a quite sensible approach.
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