But these days, I've changed my outlook on how I eat. Instead of excluding foods, I have a much more inclusive diet than ever before. In looking at what I eat on a regular basis, I have found that I was getting VERY little fat in my diet. Either the foods that I was eating were naturally fat free (fruits, veggies, chicken breast, etc.) or I was substituting full fat products for their fat free counterparts (fat free mayo, salad dressings).
A few months ago, I began to discover that I was having trouble sleeping. I would lie in bed at night and my muscles would "twitch" and I felt incredibly restless. After evaluating what I was eating, I came to the conclusion that sugar in the evenings was the culprit. Even worse was aspartame ("fake" sugar). I began to cut out all sugar from late afternoon on and aspartame out completely and eventually began to see a difference in my sleeping habits.
Since then, I have been able to re-introduce sugar into my diet in the evenings and have been sleeping just fine. What I've come to realize is the difference between natural sugars and added sugars. Many times when an ingredient is made "fat free", sugar and/or salt is added to replace the flavor of the removed fat. For example, full fat mayonnaise has 0 grams of sugar in it per tablespoon, while fat free mayonnaise has 1 gram of sugar. Maybe 1 additional gram doesn't sound like a whole lot, but that is in a single tablespoon!
I now eat plenty of natural sugars throughout the day, and even up until bed time, in the form of fresh fruits and vegetables and have had no trouble sleeping. This is my body's way of telling me to keep unnatural ingredients out!
Because I have been steering away from fat free ingredients, I've needed to introduce flavor again somehow to my meals. The fear of additional calories and fat is gone, because I know how much healthier and balanced eating natural food is for me. Of course, everything in moderation. But adding almonds, avocado, strong cheeses (read: super flavorful!), sesame oil, coconut oil, salmon, and red meat into my diet has been fantastic! And, this may just be a lucky coincidence, but my workouts have been fantastic recently too!
Throughout the years, I've also come to realize that everyone's body is different. What may work for me and make me feel good, may not work for you. You may be one of the fortunate who can eat whatever you want, when you want, without thinking about it. Or you may not be allowed to have as much fat, sodium, sugar, whatever in your diet. I think the important thing is experimenting and listening to your body. I am 27 and am still learning what works for me. And I would imagine that over the years, it will continue to change and I'll have to adjust.
But for now, I am back on the red meat band wagon and I've been craving skirt steak. I've tried several variations at different local restaurants and have found some to be pretty darn good. Gaucho Grill in Brentwood had the best Argentinian version - Entraña a la Parrilla served with their incredibly flavorful chimichurri sauce. La Grande Orange (now M Street Kitchen) on Main Street in Santa Monica has a phenomenal Steak Frites - grilled skirt steak served with hand-cut fries and a parsley lemon gremolata. I've also had versions at several Mexican restaurants with their own variation on sauces and sides (skirt steak with guacamole?? YUM!).
I decided to try my hand at this and make it at home one evening. I looked up several recipes and settled on a variation of Tyler Florence's Mojo sauce that he uses in his Tacos Carne Asada recipe. At noon the day that we planned on eating this, I put together the Mojo, which served as the marinade.
Full of fresh herbs, lemons, jalapenos, and olive oil, it smelled good even before it went on the grill pan. In fact, it probably smelled better than when it started cooking. Note to self: There is a reason that grills belong outside. Between the smoke and the cooking jalapenos, we had to choke/cough our way through the cooking process. Fortunately, skirt steak is a quick cooking meat.
The steak turned out delicious! And bonus points for being such an inexpensive cut of meat. The recipe can be found on my new recipe website under "Meat and Chicken" and I suggest you give it a try! (This website is still a work in progress, so please forgive any imperfections!)
Shoot, we could have used this post last week, I wish I had remembered it! We tried to make carne asada with a recipe given to us by the meat guy at whole foods...all I know is it involved orange juice. It was ok but this looks better!
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