Sometimes Foods: The Sneaky Diet Disaster 12

Posted In Nutrition

So what happens when you decide that it’s fine to eat “sometimes” food all the time?

For 8 weeks straight?

I can tell you one thing… it ain’t pretty!

As some of you may have gathered from some of my other blog posts, Facebook posts, or Twitter posts, I have had the most stressful year of my entire life. Lots of good, tons of bad, and definitely plenty of crazy. And yet, somehow, I am hanging on by the skin of my teeth and still smiling (most of the time).

Good people like my friend Tim, make it easier to smile.

While I won’t get into much detail about what has happened (you can read part of it here), in the last 9 weeks, including this upcoming week, I have moved gyms, moved homes, and been out of town off and on for 32 of those 63 days. Needless to say, I have eaten out at restaurants a TON and have had very few home cooked meals. On top of that, my training has been lackluster at best.

Have I eaten horribly? No. I mean… I did have a 9 day frozen yogurt streak in there somewhere, but it was (mostly) post-workout and only (occasionally) a substitute for dinner. =) But that’s neither here nor there.

What I have done, however, is eaten “sometimes” foods… All. The. Time.

“Sometimes” foods are foods that are fine to have in your diet occasionally. They shouldn’t be staples of course, but they are fine to include on occasion and can be great in a pinch. Assuming your diet is made up of lots of high quality meats, fresh veggies, and good fats, eating these “sometimes” foods sometimes, is fine.

(A side note: I call these “sometimes” foods because that is how my sister describes certain foods to my 3 year old niece. She does a wonderful and deliberate job of teaching my niece about nutrition, and instead of calling foods “good” or “bad,” she talks about how certain foods will make my niece healthy and strong, and other foods, while very tasty, are only to be eaten sometimes, because they will NOT make her healthy and strong. Several months ago my niece got very frustrated and said, “But Mama!!! I want SOMETIMES foods ALL THE TIME!” Don’t we all Miss Ella. Don’t we all. =D)

Ella with her delicious “sometimes” food. Birthday cake!

So what do I consider “sometimes” foods? Well they range from the seemingly harmless Justin’s Maple Almond Butter, Uber Lara Bars, and Paleo Krunch, to the more obvious frozen yogurt with toppings and ginormous gluten free pumpkin muffins. While a packet of Maple Almond Butter or an Uber Lara Bar once a day is fine for most people, when you are subsisting on several of them throughout the day and then have a protein shake and a huge GF muffin (or two) for your dinner post workout…over the long haul, you simply can’t expect to look and feel your best.

The worst thing about these “sometimes” foods is that they sneak into your diet and you don’t notice because often the foods aren’t that “bad.” For example, if you were eating a whole pizza every night and your physique and energy levels started suffering, it would be pretty easy to step back and look at your nutrition and know what the problem is. With “sometimes” foods it’s easy to justify eating them regularly and tell yourself that they are fine to eat; which they are…just not for every meal. (Check out a great article my girl Jen Comas Keck wrote about this very subject here.)

So does that mean that I will never have my precious almond butter, Lara Bars, frozen yogurt, Five Guys bun-less burger, gluten free muffins, or Chipotle again? Of course not! I am just simply going to eat them much less often and balance them out with a lot more high quality meat, fresh vegetables, healthy fats, and well-timed starchy carbs.

Perfect for sometimes… not all the time!

After almost 9 weeks of eating this way, I am actually excited about getting back to eating better foods! I am also confident that over the next few weeks, not only will I look better, but I will feel infinitely better as well!

Last night’s dinner! Feels so good to be back to eating good food!

So what about you? Have you ever fallen into the trap of eating too many “sometimes” foods? What “sometimes” foods suckered you in? How did you look and feel after eating too much of them too often? Let me know below!

P.S. If you haven’t heard, my arse has it’s own Twitter account. Yes, it’s own Twitter account. My friend started it for me after an interesting series of events, and I have decided to turn it into something positive by posting funny quotes, great nutrition/training information pertaining to glutes, and pictures of the beautiful backsides of women who lift weights! So follow my arse on Twitter and send TASTEFUL pics of your beautiful backside to StrongBootyBeauties@gmail.com, and help me convince other women to crush heavy iron! RAWR! https://twitter.com/TheMGArse