A few sample meals with inevitable side rants

Ok, so I keep getting more and more questions from fellow chronies about what I eat.  Rather than procrastinating to writing the perfect blog, I've just grabbed a bunch of food pictures from my iphoto library.  Yes, I hate to admit, I'm that annoying guy that always needs to pull out his phone to take a picture of his meal. 

But first I want to start out by saying that last night I had a wicked case of the munchies, made a poor decision and hammered back a box of 20 timbits.  The reason I chose to share this is to say that I am not perfect!  I have my moments of weakness just like everyone else.  Being a trainer and having all the right knowledge doesn't make me superhuman.  I'm prone to stress eating, and I love shitty, terrible chemical laden foods just as much as you do.  The accountability thing really works though, just the act of sharing that already makes me not want to do it again!  Be honest with yourself, theres always a clean slate available.

Having said that, I'm on top of my game about 80% of the time, and I've been cleaning up the junk diet consistently ever since my initial post-surgery binge.

Upon rising, I usually have a glass of water with 1tsp of sea salt.  This is great for thyroid health, and now that I'm missing my large intestine I can always use the extra sodium.

Side rant-You don't need to have a malabsorbtion syndrome to enjoy your salt!  Real salt is good for you, table salt is not.  Just like saturated fat, studies showing high sodium diets to be harmful were done on junk diets, so its more correlation that causation.  Regular table salt is processed with heat which kills all the trace minerals that make it so healthy.  The flowing agents added to make it pour so nicely can also be carcinogenic.  Stick to sea or pink himalayan, and use it to enhance the flavor of your foods.  It sure seems ironic to me how someone could deprive themselves of salt at breakfast and then dump a bunch of ketchup on their eggs.

With the salt water I'll take any pills that need to be taken on an empty stomach, currently thats just a couple of probiotics.

30-60 minutes later I'll have my "breakfast" of bulletproof coffee.  You've probably heard of it by now,  I'll admit it is super trendy these days.  Call it a health fad, but its awesome.  For those who aren't familiar, its 2 cups of high quality coffee blended with grass fed butter and MCT oil.  Do NOT attempt to just stir it, or you will be terribly disappointed.  And before dismissing it as "not a balanced breakfast"  hang on a second.  Think of it as a serving of healthy fats, but caffeinated.  You get the antioxidant benefits of the coffee, instant energy from the mct oil, and fat soluble vitamins as well as CLA from the butter.  Not to mention it tastes like the best latte you've ever had. I always do 2 tablespoons MCT oil (worked up to this, too much at once causes diarrhrea) , and 1-2 tablespoons butter.  The amount of butter just depends on hunger.  My favorite thing about it is the mental energy and clarity, with no crash.  You don't even think about food for 3-4 hours afterwards.  I know personally, if I start my day with a bowl of oatmeal crisp, first of all I want to eat the entire box, and even if I manage just one bowl, I'm fucking starving an hour later.

 With the coffee I'll take my vitamin A and D, and whatever else I'm currently on that is to be taken with food.

Side rant- Your entire diet needs to be balanced, not individual meals.  There are benefits to altering macronutrient ratios of a meal depending on its time and application.  For example, filling up on fat and avoiding carbs in the morning results in steady blood sugar and much more energy, where as post workout you want carbs to refuel, but zero fat because it will slow down the absorption/assimilation of other nutrients. 

In the afternoon I usually have a smoothie consisting of
-1 cup frozen fruit (my favorites are blueberry, mango, cherry, and seabuckthorn berry) ,
-coconut water and almond milk until its "enough" liquid for 1 serving.
-a couple "glugs" of avocado oil or olive oil
-another "glug" of MCT oil
-1tsp matcha green tea powder
-20-30 grams worth of protein from any combination of whey, hemp, or collagen protein powder
-other amino acids if I'm taking any at the time
-1/2 tsp real vanilla powder
-sometimes a TBSP of hemp hearts
- Sometimes a cup of frozen steamed kale or spinach, but not gonna lie I've been slacking on the greens lately

Beyond the coffee and the smoothie being staples my meals vary day to day, here are a few samples:

Chili made with bison, sweet potato, quinoa, celery, mushroom, bone broth, tomato sauce.  (no beans)

Cucumber slices and guacamole.  (Easy and portable).

 Homemade chocolates.  Raw cacao powder (super healthy, look it up), raw cacao butter, and a bit of maple syrup, thats it.  For a filling (optional) I used homemade macadamia butter.

 Real coffee.  Not ground 2 years ago and stored in a plastic disk.

 Macadamia butter mentioned previously.  Dump macadamias in blender, blend, done.

 BP coffee, boiled egg, leftover burger patty with guac.

 Steamed salmon with lemon and dill, 2 eggs.  15 minute supper. 

 Picnic lunch for the beach.  Spinach salad with chicken and hemp hearts, apple slices to dunk in almond butter, bananas and grapes.

 Lamb roast on top of onions and lemongrass before adding coconut milk and tomato paste.

 Zucchini, peppers, mushrooms fried in grass fed butter, loaded with plenty of salt and spices.  2 eggs thrown on top.  This is one of my quick and easy at home lunches.

 A whole pig's worth of pork belly (unprocessed bacon). Pork is definitely not something I would suggest eating this much of if you get it from the grocery store.  This is pastured organic, otherwise pork is typically a very dirty meat. 

 Leftover steamed cod on peas.  With salt and butter of course. 

 -I load herbs and spices on everything.  For fresh ones I like rosemary, cilantro, tarragon, and mint.  Dried I use a lot of of turmeric, cumin, cinnamon, fenugreek, garlic, dill, and oregano.  Seriously, I go hard on the spices.  I used to need to put ranch, teryaki or bbq sauce on everything I ate until I learned to use them.  Have fun with it, just check your expiry dates and please don't ruin your beautiful spices by storing them above the stove, that spot is basically a mold incubator. 

- I also enjoy 1-3 cups of tea per day.  I like green or peurh in the morning, ginger, rooibos, or peppermint anytime, and either kava or chamomile at night.

So there's a few examples anyways, if you find this information interesting or useful, please share!  What else should I blog about?