Today on the podcast, I’m talking about portion control. And when I say portion control, I don’t mean limiting your food or restricting your food options. I simply mean taking care of your body, feeding it the food it truly needs, and fueling it on a daily basis. Just a quick recap here of the things that helped me take control of my overeating behaviors:
- Facing what was making me unhappy. Once I owned up to what was making me unhappy and why, I was able to get control of my emotional eating since I was trying to fill a void any longer.
- Not telling myself I couldn’t have something.
- Listening to what my body was craving and what it didn’t like.
- Drinking a SH*T TON of water. I try to drink a gallon or more a day.
- Eating on time, meaning not letting myself get ravenous which tends to lead to poor decisions.
- Seeing food as fuel.
I think that’s about it but I can’t remember since I recorded this 20 minutes ago. You’ll have to listen for the rest! And if you have any questions, leave them below!
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Episode 26 Transcription!
Today’s podcast is brought to you by Aaptiv. Aaptiv is a fitness app that gives you custom workouts with the voice of an elite trainer and amazing playlist, walking you through the class, workout, or training session of your choice. They have unlimited workouts so you can do really whatever you have in mind; whether you’re training for a marathon, or you want to work on strength training, or you just want to do one-minute abs or one-minute arms. They have it all. I will be using the Aaptiv app this weekend, because I’m going to San Diego, so I’ll probably just workout in the hotel gym there, so I’m just going to flip on my headphones, turn on Aaptiv, and just try out a new workout. Just try something new. Because there are new workouts to try every single time. There’s really no excuse to not workout while on vacation; or really any time. Right now, because you have Aaptiv at your fingertips for free for 30 days. Jeeze, I almost couldn’t get that out!
So if you want to try out Aaptiv for free for 30 days, all you have to do is go to www.aaptiv.com; that’s A-A-P-T-I-V. Use the promocode PaleOMG; and that’s all you have to do! Try the workouts; because honestly, excuses are for the birds. Whatever that means. Get after it, guys!
This is Juli Bauer from PaleOMG and you are listening to PaleOMG Uncensored.
1. Juli’s weekend review [2:45]
2. The Bachelor Finale update [8:10]
3. Juli’s experience with portion control [18:11]
4. Different bodies, different needs [29:38]
5. Listening to your body [33:31]
6. Big picture view [37:04]
7. Listener questions: Social gatherings [42:07]
8. Portion control in an office setting [45:01]
9. Increased cravings around that time of the month [46:13]
10. Portion control when you don’t feel full [48:46]
11. Eating slower [50:22]
12. Weighing your food [51:57]
13. Adjusting portions for workouts [54:46]
14. Food timing and intuitive eating [56:04]
15. Regulate the junk [1:00:01]
16. Levels of fullness [1:02:28]
17. Portioning sweets [1:04:15]
18. Timing food with workouts [1:05:43]
19. Protein amount [1:07:07]
20. Smaller dishes [1:08:19]
21. Snacking while traveling [1:09:32]
Juli Bauer: Just a reminder. PaleOMG Uncensored podcast is rated explicit, because we like to do naughty things around here. We, meaning me, like to use cuss words, and we like to talk about sexual content at times. So just warning you now; getting you read.
Oh, and before we start this podcast today, I just want to let you know that I am not a doctor. And if you have specific medical questions, you need to talk to a doctor, because you sure shouldn’t just believe me. I’m just only talking about my own experience here. So if you feel like you need good advice, head to a professional. A’ight? A’ight.
Well hello, guys. Welcome officially to the PaleOMG Uncensored podcast. My name is Juli Bauer Roth; I am the writer and creator of www.PaleOMG.com, a food and lifestyle and just an all-around fun time kind of blog. So if you haven’t been over there; I don’t know what the hell you’re doing; are you just listening? Are you just a listener, not a reader? That’s fair. That’s like me.
1. Juli’s weekend review [2:45]
Well welcome to the podcast today, guys. We have a lot to talk about, because it was the finale of the Bachelor. So that’s what’s really important in this whole podcast today; just to let you know. But, first I wanted to talk about last week, because last week was a good time. I was in LA for Expo West; and if you’ve never heard about Expo West; I hadn’t really either before. Expo West is this natural food expo. It’s; I don’t know, it has 2500 booths or something in it. It’s in 7 to 10 halls throughout the convention center and into a hotel because there are so many companies; and it’s like Justin’s nut butter to Larabar, to Bob’s Red Mill; to smaller companies like Malk; I’ve recommended here, they were there. Smaller companies just starting out, and I think really trying to get in contact with grocery stores; and I don’t know. I don’t know what they’re doing; looking for groceries stores, trying to get into natural food stores, trying to get into Whole Foods; trying to build relationships more than anything.
So me, my friend Cassy, and Vanessa; who have both been on the podcast. I told you, I only like a few people, and I’m staying within that circle. Well the three of us got a Residence Inn hotel so we could cook our own breakfast, and we went there for two days in a row; we went there Friday and Saturday; we just walked around. There is so much f*cking walking. All you do is walk and walk and walk. And then, you know what else you do? You eat a sh*t-ton of food. And it’s not like; “Oh, try this sampler platter of smoked salmon and vegetables.” It’s like, “Hey, we made a snack that we’re trying to be better than the sh*tty snack foods out there, but it’s still natural sugars; so it’s food made with nuts, and dates, and maple syrup. And then there are a ton of gluten free companies.
So we tried these no-bake cookies that were off the chain; the No-Bake Cookie Company, I think that’s what it was called. And they were off the f*cking chain. And they were will gluten free oats. So you’re just eating the whole time. And you don’t want to not try something; you’re so excited about all of the products. So you just eat the whole f*cking time. Then you just walk, and you kind of run into people you know; just since I’ve been in the paleo community for a while now. So I ran into some people I know; got to talk to companies that I’ve been in contact with but never met in person.
So it was just a really cool experience; and it was even more so, more fun because Vanessa and Cassy; we’re all pretty similar. We have different personalities but we just get each other; and one night the, I don’t know, the third night we were there, we were supposed to go out to dinner and we were like; we just don’t even want to f*cking go out to dinner. And the friends that we were supposed to meet up with, they didn’t want to go out to dinner. It was f*cking awesome, and we were just eating all day; we just wanted to sit on the couch and watch a movie. So that’s what we did; and we all worked, and ordered gluten-free pizza, and it was delivered to our hotel room door because we’re lazy ass pieces of poop. And it was great, it was so much fun. I loved it. And yeah, it built some relationships with people, and I totally want to go back next year.
And that has made me decide to not do PaleoFx this year. If you haven’t heard of PaleoFx, it’s like similar to Expo West but on a very, very small scale. They probably have 50 companies there, and it’s in a really small place. But it’s in Austin, Texas every year, and if you’ve never been to Austin, you need to book a flight there now because it’s the best place ever, and I want to move there, and it gives me an excuse to go to Austin every year. So, now we’re planning instead of going to Austin, planning a girl’s trip maybe to Austin or somewhere else. I’m on a group message that I never check because; you know when girls are on a group message and they just talk back and forth, and they’re like, “no, I can’t do this, I can’t do this, I can’t do this.” I’m like, I’m wide open, b*tches, once you decide on a place I’ll book my ticket.” But I just don’t look at the group messages; and then I have 620 to come back to. I’m not joking with that. I’m not joking.
So yeah, that’s what we did this past weekend. And then this coming weekend I’m going to San Diego for this little trip that I’ll be blogging about, and I’m going to La Jolla first, and then San Diego, and we have kayaking planned, we have surfing; which I’ve never surfed and it’s like 68 degrees there, so they better have a wet suit. Because this b*tch does not get in water anymore. I swam my entire life, and I don’t like feeling like a wet, cold dog. It’s just not a cute look. So, it’s supposed to be like 80 degrees in Colorado, and we’re going to 68. But we’re in California; it’s awesome, it’s sunny, and there are seals that smell like poop. Love it. I can’t wait to share the restaurants that I get to go to; so excited!
2. The Bachelor Finale update [8:10]
Ok. Ok, ok. We have to talk about the finale of the Bachelor. Because thank god it’s over, and Nick’s season is over, because it was so boring. So boring. If you’re not a Bachelor watcher, I don’t know what you’re doing with your life. None of my friends seem to watch the Bachelor, either, so maybe I should act like I’m almost 30 and stop watching this sh*t; but I’m not going to, ok. I’m not doing it.
So anyways. The Bachelor is over; I knew it was going to be Vanessa, because I listen to Reality Steve; and I just want to say she was my number one pick. I thought she would win it; so toot, toot, to me. It was obvious she was going to be it. And you know how they spin the last episode where they’re like; “Oh, Raven’s having so much fun.” They’re giggling, and it’s just the best, and Vanessa is just crying the whole time. They try to spin it on you, like that’s not going to be it. And they do that every season. Start watching that, and you’re like; ok, well I know who’s going to win because you’re trying to make me think it’s going to be the other person.
So whatever, I listen to the reality Steve Podcast, so I knew it was going to be her. And if you guys listen to podcasts; obviously you do, you’re listening to one right now. You should totally listen to him if you like the Bachelor stuff, because he just interviews people all the time, and it’s just so interesting. All the back stuff; you get to learn the stuff that they’re allowed to tell you, but you get to learn more stuff. It’s so interesting.
But ok, let’s do the breakdown of this season. We were talking, {laughs} I was talking to. F*ck. I’m not even talking. So, I smell bad. I got a spray tan, and my smells are wafting. So I was listening to Reality Steve, and he had this one girl on who was part of Juan Pablo’s season, and she was talking about all the places they went. I don’t know; it was like Thailand, Singapore; it was like 4 different places within two weeks. It was crazy. And they don’t do that anymore. Nick’s season; where did they go, Wisconsin? Oh yeah, they went to New Orleans. It’s like, ok cool anybody could do that if you’re in the United States. Just hop on a f*cking bus; go, whatever. But, now it’s obvious that they were trying to save money because they had to bring Nick’s 47 siblings to Finland. So obviously they’re like, “Hey, we have to spend millions of dollars just to get your family over here; plus we have to buy all the meals that you’re not going to eat and that are just going to sit there. So, yeah, you’re going to be in f*cking Wisconsin.” And that’s how it went.
So, they’re in Finland the last day. I just want to put it out there that I hate Chris Harrison. Does anybody like Chris Harrison anymore? Chris Harrison is the worst. He always has something to say; like, “It’s going to be the most jaw-dropping finale in Bachelor history.” Ok, Chris Harrison; nothing happened. Nothing happened! If Nick lit on fire, and the whole barn or whatever the f*ck they were in, lit on fire while he was in mid-proposal, that would be jaw-dropping. Him dumping one girl and proposing to the other was not jaw-dropping. None of it was.
So exactly what happened; this sh*t starts off with Vanessa’s date. She meets the family, she cries to Nick because she feels like he has the same feelings for Raven and she just cries the whole time. Which is fair, because her boyfriend that she’s probably about to get engaged to has been cheating on her the entire time. So it’s not the best way to start your engagement; I’d probably be crying my f*cking eyes out, too. But that’s all that happened; just a lot of crying.
Oh; and, they went on some date where they’re sitting out; it was. They’re like; I don’t know. Sitting out in the snow in front of a sh*tty ass fire, and Santa is popping up out of nowhere. Like, was this around the holidays, and she was sad because she was missing the holidays? None of that was quite clear to me. It was weird; do you think she has a sexual obsession with Santa and Nick was just trying to get her excited instead of depressed for their last night together? I don’t know. Think it over.
So next was Raven’s date, and they’re ice skating, and she’s like; “There’s no one around for miles.” And then the camera pulls out and there are like 10 producers sitting all in the back, trying to look like trees. It’s like; ok, we see you. There are 10 producers, stop lying to us, Raven.
Then the dumping happens. So he dumps Raven, obviously, and Raven is stone face smile face. She’s like, “OK. Ok. Ok. Ok.” Just, smiling through it all; keeping her sh*t together; just being a f*cking queen bee. And he’s like; I’m really going to miss you.” And she’s like, “I know.” Like, drop the mic, walk out of there. But you know what’s the worst part? This girl just got dumped on national TV, and you can’t even get her jacket for her in Finland? You’re making her walk into the snow and barren world without a jacket. You’re a total asshole, Nick. This poor girl in this dress and heels in the snow; no jacket. And then, Vanessa comes in, and Chris Harrison puts her jacket on top of Raven’s. Ok. Dick moves, producers. Dick moves. And she probably got that; the producers probably got her that jacket. She won that jacket fair and square. That’s hers.
Then Vanessa comes in. They speak all this bullsh*t; not bullsh*t. Whatever. They really love each other. Whatever. So they say all this stuff to each other; and every single scene goes from Vanessa having lipstick on, to not having lipstick. Have lipstick; not have lipstick. So it’s like, every other word, her lipsticked and not-lipsticked face changes. So I’m like; how many times did you say this little speech, for the producers to have to cut all this? It was so weird. It was so weird. It just makes you wonder how much of that is cut and pasted and redone and all that jazz. And whatever, they go off into the abyss, and that’s it.
Then after the final rose; I had to go to sleep. Once the final rose started up, I was like, f*ck I can’t do this. This is so boring. Whatever, I turned it off like 10 minutes on, and then turned it back on the next morning to finish it off. Because my mother-in-law told us that we had to finish it; my sister-in-law and I, had to finish it because Rachel got to meet 4 of the guys that are going to be on her show. So whatever, I turned it on the next morning. It’s still boring as f*ck. Raven looks bomb AF. She’s just killing it. Just looking hot as sh*t. And still putting on a pretty face; just do you, Raven; do you. And then Vanessa and Nick are obviously going through some tough times, and they weren’t quiet about it. She was just completely honest; she was like, “well, we’re trying to figure our sh*t out about moving. I’m probably going to move to LA.” When she was like, “I’m going to have Sunday night dinner with my family no matter what; I will not change that.” Well, she is; you know, because that’s relationships. It’s f*cking compromise. Even though she said she wouldn’t compromise on that. But you know what; good for you guys. You’re boring.
Next; they have Rachel on, and she’s going to be the next Bachelorette, and they surprise her; which she looked so good too. It’s like, all these glam squads they get after they’re on the Bachelorette or Bachelor; boom. So she looks bomb; and Chris Harrison does this little trick, where he’s like, “We’re starting the Bachelorette, right now! Oh my god, you’re going to meet your suitors!” And then brings on 4 of the guys. One of the guys says, “Once you go black…” I don’t know what he said. He said something like, “Once I go black, I’m never going to go back.” And she laughed so hard; I was like, is it that funny? It’s not a good one-liner. It’s something we’ve heard for a long time. And it was all the most awkward situation it could be. Rachel is really good at laughing a lot, so she doesn’t look as uncomfortable as she is; but we all see through the laughter. She was nervous as f*ck. I wish we could see the sweat stains that she had after that. If I was in that situation, I would be drenched down to my ankles in pit sweat.
So she meets 4 of the guys; I think 2 are black, 2 are white maybe. Yeah, it was just really boring. It was just very uncomfortable. They all felt; they didn’t know where to walk, and they gave a bunch of hugs, and she almost grabbed some guy’s wiener when she went to go give him a handshake. It was all so awkward, and they were not mentally prepared; none of them. So that’s how it ended. And we just need Bachelor in Paradise to come on so we can watch Raven and all the other great people that were on that show that were worth watching; we can finally watch it. {sigh} So that was the Bachelor recap. What the f*ck am I going to talk about on the blog on Tuesdays now? I literally have no idea. Nothing that much exciting in my day to day life. I’m living vicariously through these people, who are being completely edited. I need to get a life, huh? Balls.
3. Juli’s experience with portion control [18:11]
Ok. So today’s podcast, I’m talking about portion control. And I honestly kind of hate the word portion control, because I feel like it has a negative connotation around it. And I don’t feel like, when I’m looking at my day to day, that I’m trying to control my portion sizes. It’s not even portion control; it’s just feeling more control in your diet, and more control of your life. That’s what it is. Yeah; because I never think of food in portion sizes. I just don’t.
But, ok so I just want talk about kind of my background. I’ve talked about this on other podcasts, so I’m sorry if I’m repeating myself, but I know some people just listen to certain episodes. So; I had a terrible diet growing up. I mean, I was filled with oatmeal cream pies and whoopie pies; really any Little Debbie Snack Cake I could find and get my hands on; I would peel it apart and eat it, like a savage. So I loved those; I had a terrible diet. College of course is terrible; you’re just drinking a sh*t-ton. You’re going out to eat like Taco Bell, Sonic. When we were studying, we would make cookie dough and literally just eat cookie dough while we studied. Like; what the f*ck? I didn’t get the best grades ever, and obviously it was not helping me out. {laughs}
So, it wasn’t until college that I found out about the Zone diet, and I started doing Zone diet. So Zone is blocks, how Weight Watchers is points. It’s kind of getting control of your portion sizes, and being aware of how much food you’re eating. So, you know, if you’re eating potato chips, you can only have these many potato chips. It’s just like Weight Watchers. So, I started doing the Zone diet, and lost weight; and I was cleaning up my diet while I was doing that. So breakfast; I forget what I used to; oh, I used to have cereal for breakfast every morning. So then I kind of moved to oats. I would cook oats with an egg and mix in yogurt; I know it sounds gross, but it was really good. And so I made that step; and then I did smoothies; and then I was like, ok I think I’m ready to try not-sweets for breakfast. Because I wanted to get away from sweets. And I started making eggs and bacon; just testing things out.
I stayed in Zone for a good amount of time, and I lost weight from it, and then I wanted to get even cleaner and do paleo, so I started doing paleo, but doing paleo and Zone together was just too mentally challenging for me; especially when I started cooking for my blog. I just didn’t want to measure all that out and figure that out when I’m cooking these meals. I just didn’t want to figure that out; it’s just too much.
So I lost weight from Zone, and then I lost weight from paleo. And I was like; this is amazing, and it was really, my body was kind of being shocked because I had been eating so much carbs and sugar, so kind of removing that carbs and sugar in that great amount really shocked my system. And I was upping my fat by a good amount, and I was doing CrossFit, starting in CrossFit for the first time. So I was really shocking my system, and that’s what helped me lose weight. But over time, I started gaining weight back, and that probably had to do with the hormonal fluctuations that I had from competing in CrossFit and working out multiple times a day. And while I was doing that, I was not feeding myself enough food. I felt like; I was getting to the point where I was like, “Ok, I could lose more weight if I worked out more and I restricted my diet less.” You know? Like, 2 and 2 equals 4. And it’s not like that; and a lot of people think it is.
So I was restricting my diet, I was putting on weight, not only muscle but some fat as well. So I was very uncomfortable in my skin, and I started trying to get control of my food even more; restricting my carbohydrates, upping my fat; decreasing my fat. Just doing all these things constantly, and I was always just staring at myself in the mirror, unhappy with how I looked; unhappy with my life. I was in a really dark place at that time, and a really hard place in my life, so I was an emotional eater for sure, and filling voids with food.
So I constantly just didn’t take care of my body; and didn’t look at the big picture. It wasn’t until I stopped competing in CrossFit, and I just went down to working out on a regular basis; so, working out 3 days in a row, one day off; two days in a row, one day off. I started doing that, and I stopped thinking about food. I was like; I can’t f*cking do this anymore. I just got to that point. I can’t f*cking do this anymore, I can’t be obsessed with all the little details, all the little dimples, every little pocket of fat; why I don’t look like this person on the internet. I just can’t f*cking do this anymore; it’s exhausting, and I hate my life because of it. And my boyfriend at the time, now husband, was not a fan of it either. And he wouldn’t put up with me complaining. He was like, “I’m not listening to this. I’m obviously in love with you, and I’m not going to listen to this bullsh*t.” And that’s how he was. He doesn’t take bullsh*t, and he won’t listen to it, either.
So I was like; I’m not doing this anymore. And I said; I’m not over-working out anymore, I’m going to stick with my schedule of three days on, one day off, two days on, one day off, because it makes me feel the best and I’ve played around with it enough to know that; and I’m not going to restrict food. If I want to go out to eat and have tacos, I’m going to go out to eat and have tacos. And when I say that; I don’t eat gluten. I don’t think gluten is needed in our diet, but I started adding in rice. I started eating more gluten-free grains; so rice, some gluten-free bread sometimes. Just not overdoing it and doing it every day. But then I started adding in more starchy carbohydrates, like potatoes, and I felt better when I was having these potatoes versus the sweet potatoes I was eating before, and I just thought, I have to have sweet potatoes. Well, I feel a little better when I have white potatoes. So I started listening to my body, and what it was craving, and why it was craving that; what had I done differently. And the more I listened to it, the more I could start figuring things out with my body.
So when you’re not stressing, and you’re obsessing over all the little details, you’re kind of able to see the bigger picture; and that’s what happened for me. I just didn’t eat when I was bored; I didn’t eat when I wasn’t hungry, and I noticed that I do best when I eat 3 solid meals. I need those 3 solid meals. If I don’t have them, my body just feels off, and I overeat other things because I feel like my body is trying to make up for the nutrients that it’s lost by not having those 3 solid meals.
I don’t need a snack between breakfast and lunch; and if I do, it’s because I didn’t eat a big enough breakfast. I usually eat breakfast at, I would say 7, maybe 7:30 at the latest, and if I eat a big enough breakfast then I’m fine until noon; even 1 if I’m having a busy day. So if I eat a big enough breakfast, I’m good. If I didn’t, then I can figure out why I got hungry earlier, and what I needed to adjust. So if I didn’t have enough protein, maybe I needed a protein; maybe I needed a more starchy carbohydrate that day; my body was just craving that more. So I just keep that in mind, and look at that.
I usually need a snack before dinner. We don’t eat dinner; if I eat lunch at about noon, and we don’t eat dinner until around 7:30, because my husband’s work. I definitely need a snack between noon and 7:30, and sometimes it’s 2 snacks, even, just depending on what the days’ looking like, or depending on if I’ve been cooking and I’ve been snacking while I cook. So yesterday I made seared ahi tuna bowls; and usually I’d need more than one snack, but I’d been eating some of that tuna while I’d been slicing it and putting it into photos and everything. So it really depends on what I’ve been cooking that day.
I notice that I need more carbs. For a long time, I deprived myself of carbohydrates, and I think as women most women do that at some point in their life, because we’re taught that through social media; maybe through what a parent has said or a friend has said. So I thought, paleo kind of says no to starchier carbohydrates; so I was scared of carbohydrates for a long time, and I held back with them. But when I started adding in more carbs, I actually lost a good amount of weight because my body needed those and was probably holding on to other weight because it didn’t know when it was going to get the right supplies and right nutrients later on. So yeah, that was something I found out; I needed more carbs.
I need way more water than I ever drank in the past, and based on what I know from all of my friends and the people I work out with at the gym, most people do not drink that much water. And you need a f*ck-ton of water. I drink probably more than a gallon a day, and I’m off right now and I feel so parched and it’s driving me crazy. But the thing with drinking water is a lot of times we feel like we’re hungry, and that hunger cue is a little bit different. Sorry, I’m not wording this right. So a lot of times we feel hungry, and a lot of times because we’re thirsty. We don’t drink enough water; our body needs hydration; so we’re like; well, we’ll take hydration in food or in the form of water.
So a lot of times I think if you drink more water, you’re not going to have those same hunger cues. And, I figured this out over time, and I can’t explain it exactly, but thirst cues and hunger cues are very different. They’re very subtly different, but I can feel the difference, and I figured that over time that, ok I’m not actually hungry. My stomach isn’t actually hungry, my body needs something, and it probably needs water, and that’s when I’ll drink water. So, yeah. That’s something to keep in mind; you need to drink more water, and if you think you drink enough water, you probably don’t. So, that’s it at the end of the day. If you think you drink enough water; drink more. All the time, drink a sh*t-ton of it. And the more water I’ve drank, the better my body has felt; the skin looks better, I’ve lost weight because my body is not holding onto water weight, I’m pissing all that sh*t out. So keep that in mind; more water is huge.
4. Different bodies, different needs [29:38]
So, things that I’ve kind of noticed over the years with portion control is; it’s always going to change. Our bodies are always changing, our metabolism is changing, our lifestyles are changing. We may be sick with cancer, or we may be pregnant; those people have completely different needs than they had 3 years ago when they weren’t having these “issues”; you know, changes in the body. So your body is always changing and you have to learn to listen to it. And I know that’s a frustrating thing to hear from someone, because you’re like; how do I learn? Well, how do you know.
Ok, if you take a sh*t; if you go poop every day in the morning, and you didn’t that morning, why are you feeling that way? Why is your body not doing what it normally does? And keeping that in mind. Ok, maybe you’re not drinking enough water, so your body is not getting rid of the waste because it’s holding onto it; it needs more moisture. It’s things like that that you start to learn, “Why is my body feeling this way?” Think about it; think it through, and start putting all the factors together. I didn’t learn sh*t from math; but I learned how to put all these factors together to equal a large sum of something. If that didn’t make sense; it does in my head. So listening to your body.
And what I’ve figured out over the years; when I first started CrossFit and changing my diet, I was eating a f*ck-ton of fat. I ate so many nuts; I ate so much nut butter, and I lost a good amount of weight doing that. And then over time, my body’s like; “ok, we don’t need this much fat. We did probably while you changing from a high carbohydrate to a low carbohydrate diet; and we needed fat, but now we’re finding this rhythm and we really don’t need that much fat, and we’re just going to be holding onto that extra fat because we don’t need it. So I used to always add fat to my meal; like avocado or almonds or nut butter. I’d always add that to my meal; and now I’m like; ok, my meat has fat in it, and I’m cooking my vegetables in some kind of fat, so I don’t need extra fat because my diet has plenty of fat. So I used to always get guacamole or avocado on a burger; and now I just don’t do that very often. Once in a while I will, but I just know I don’t need that extra fat. And taking that fat out, I actually felt better, and I just had to play around with that and just test it, and maybe I’ll need fat at another time, but my body has been doing a little bit better with more carbohydrates and less fat.
So those are those things that change over time, and you have to be aware of those. But what has been the number one factor; and I wish I could press this to women more often, and help women open their eyes; is what really, truly changed my life and changed my weight and changed the way I looked at food was not worry about it every f*cking day. I don’t need to obsessed about it, and worry that I’m having tacos tonight, but I had a big lunch so should I maybe not be eating tacos; or I should have this carbohydrate. I just stopped f*cking worrying all the time, and because I stopped worrying, I probably lowered my cortisol hormone, and those issues that go along with high amounts of cortisol, and I lost weight because of it. I eat more food than I used to, and I’ve lost weight from doing that. And that’s from eating more of what my body needed.
5. Listening to your body [33:31]
And the other thing is; I don’t look at food as this negative thing anymore. Like, oh my god this has so many calories in it; this has so much fat in it! I just don’t look at food like that anymore. I look at it as this is fuel to my body that I can use to a great workout, and for living a good life, and for going for walks with my dog, and being alert all day long. I see it as fuel. And that was a big step to get through; I see some athletes definitely have that, but most people don’t have that feeling, and it’s hard to understand that. But food is fuel; and it’s so much more than that, and it’s so much happiness, and excitement, and celebration, but it’s fuel.
Like this past weekend I was at Expo West, and I’m eating all this sh*t; still gluten free stuff, natural food stuff; but it’s sugar. I’m still having sugar, I’m still having fruit; I’m still having maple syrup, honey, whatever bullsh*t. And it’s still not making me feel my best; but it didn’t eat me alive. I said; ok. I get back home, I need to cut out sugar, not have it for a couple of days, to get that under control and I can get back to my daily routine of having my green vegetables, my meat, having some of my snacks, and then having a little piece of chocolate at the end of the night, and that’s it. And it just didn’t eat me up inside like it would before, where I’d be obsessing and I’d be like, “Oh my god, my legs are bigger, I just look chubbier.” Like the bullsh*t stuff that’s so not worth wasting your f*cking time with. At all!
This girl said something about; what’s it called, thigh gap. Like thigh gap; you know, the space between your thighs, in one of my photos. And said something about it and I’m like; don’t even think about other people’s bodies. Think about your own, and what it is able to do in this world, and how you can take better care of it. Stop thinking about f*cking; I hate it! I hate this talk about thigh gaps. It’s the most unsettling thing, when people talk about it; ugh. It just grosses me out. Stop thinking about people’s gap between their thighs, or how they don’t have cellulite, or how they have a small waist. Stop thinking about other people’s bodies, and what you wish you had, or what you can’t have; whatever. Stop f*cking thinking about it. It’s so not worth your life. Ugh!
I wish I could smack my young self and be like, “You can have such a better life if you stop f*cking thinking about this sh*t!” And social media gives you that information all the time. All these people; and you think all these people have these great lives and all these girls in fitness competitions, and you think everything is so good because they have a happy smile on their face. But you know nothing about their lives and what they’re going through; I just wish I could get more people to stop thinking about that and stop worrying about workouts and how much food you’re eating, or how you can cut down on what you’re eating, and just think about the big picture of the happy life and enjoying those moments that you’re out to eat with your friends and taking better care of yourself in general.
6. Big picture view [37:04]
So, I say all this, because I’m off on this tangent; but I say all this because the more we can just think of food as fuel and it takes care of us and it helps us do the things we want to do, the less you’re going to worry about all the little things, and the big picture will come into view. And I say this meaning; I try to eat as well as I can, I still have sweets; but I don’t eat gluten, and I don’t eat junk food, and I don’t eat fast food, and I don’t drink pop, because I think all that sh*t is sh*t, and it’s not something we should have in our body. But if I go to a wedding and there’s wedding cake, I’m going to have f*cking wedding cake. There’s always those exceptions to those rules; but I don’t eat certain things because I don’t think they’re worth it, and I don’t think other people should eat them, either. I don’t think we should be over-drinking; and I still over-drink sometimes. But I don’t think that’s something we should be doing on a regular basis. Alcohol is true poison, and it’s crazy that the government allows it, because it’s really a true poison in our bodies; but we’re going to still enjoy those things and still have fun with them. Ugh, I just keep getting on these tangents.
All I wanted to say with portion control is; when we; I had Vanessa on and we talked about Abstainers and Moderators; and she says she’s an Abstainer and I say I’m a Moderator. For a long time, I thought I was an Abstainer, and I needed to stay away from certain foods, and I couldn’t have them. So once I did have them, I went all over excess, over-did it until I was sick in bed, and now I never say I can’t have something because that doesn’t; because when I say I can’t have something, I want it so much more, and I overdo it once I get my hands on it. So by saying I can have whatever I want, nowadays, I can have a bag of chocolate chips, I can have; I have two boxes of cookies in my pantry, I have ice cream in my fridge, I have chocolate all over the place; and I’m able to eat that in small quantities because I know I can have it at any point. And all that restriction that I did on my life before, really made my life worse, and it made my stress levels high. So I’m just trying to give you that eye, of me thinking I could Abstain from food altogether, and then it did worse to my body in the end, because once I got my hands on it, I went all out. And now I’m able to regulate my weight because I have sweets sometimes; I don’t have other times, and my body just finds more of an equilibrium of; sometimes your diet’s really clean, sometimes it’s not so clean, and it’s able to find it’s rhythm because I’ve just done this for so long, and I work out on a regular basis and my body is building muscle and burning. I just wish more people could see that they don’t have to say you can’t ever have something again.
It’s funny I say that, because I say I’m not going to have gluten again; because I don’t think gluten is good for you. I don’t think your body needs it. Especially in the United States with how grains are developed and how they’re processed; they just f*ck up our system, unless you know the farmer who is growing the wheat, you know? And we don’t, usually. So I just stay away from those foods that I just don’t think are good for our bodies.
So that’s kind of how I’ve dealt with portion control; looking at food as fuel, not telling myself I can’t have something, and that I can have it whenever I want, because then I’ll have a piece of chocolate; sometimes I’ll have a couple pieces of chocolate, and that’s kind of how I regulate everything. My body; I’ve lost 30 pounds over the past 3 years from not competing in CrossFit, and from really just letting my body teach me what it wants, and telling me what it’s craving, and listening to it. And you have to learn to listen. And I can’t give you a template or a guide of exactly how to do that. I can tell you that your body won’t tell you what it’s supposed to have if you’re addicted to sugar, for sure; and you can’t listen to it then. So getting not addicted to sugar anymore is a huge stepping stone and something I had to get past. And then your body kind of tells you what it wants. So that’s what has worked for me. I hope that kind of helps with portion control; hopefully it doesn’t confuse you more. But yeah, I hope it helps a little bit.
7. Listener questions: Social gatherings [42:07]
And I asked people on social media what questions they had, and some I took; some I didn’t take because I think some of these answers will answer your question. But again, if you ever have any questions that I didn’t answer on the podcast you can always go to the blog; www.PaleOMG.com and you can ask within this podcast post. And I can answer it there.
So let’s get started with questions, so these always take a little bit. So, I’m not going to say people’s names because they’re always kind of crazy sometimes. Well, this one’s easy; Kate’s Clean Eats, “How to remain in control at social gatherings; i.e., buffets?” So I always eat beforehand. I’m just thinking of the Super Bowl party recently. I ate beforehand because I knew that at my friend’s house, they don’t eat paleo, and from being at their house before, they’ll usually have some sort of meat to choose from but it’s mostly chips and dip, because we all bring chips and dip. And they’ll be fruit; some veggies. So I know I’ll have some sort of kind of snack. But I eat beforehand; I bring my own snack. If you’re going to a party that you can bring snacks to, bring your own snacks so you can start eating that and have that to choose from.
And since I try not to drink very often, I try to leave drinking for mostly celebrations; like going on a vacation. Leave alcohol to those. I’m not like a weekend alcohol type person. I try to bring cans of soda water, because everybody else has a cup in hand that they’re drinking beer, mixed drinks, whatever. So I bring a case of soda water, and I try to see how many cans I can drink out of that case during it. So it kind of becomes a little game for me, and it keeps me hydrated so I’m not snacking as much and going overboard at those functions.
And I stay away from the sh*t food; I stay away from gluten and I stay away from foods that I know I will over-eat, which is usually chips and dip. I can’t stop eating at those, so I try to stay away from those things. Do I stay away altogether? No, but I know that those situations, I don’t have those social gatherings all the time for my life, so I know that I’m not going to be having chips and dip probably until the next Super Bowl next year. So going a little bit overboard isn’t going to completely kill me, because I have my diet together 90% of the time. So this little overboard situation isn’t going to kill it.
But bring your own snacks, and bring some sort of drink, like soda water, so you’re not drinking sh*tty sugary drinks; but you’re having some sort of hydration to keep you full and to keep you doing something when you’re bored as f*ck because you’re watching football. Yeah; football is the worst.
8. Portion control in an office setting [45:01]
This question says, “Portion control in an office setting. Munching the day away, trying to stay alert at your desk with no windows.” That’s so fucked up; how can they not give you windows? That’s so fucked up. Ok, back to the water thing. If you are munching, and you kind of feel like you’re hungry, but you know that you ate recently, you need to drink more water. So whether that means you’re bringing soda water or just regular water; get water in your diet. Drink; find a water bottle that you’re going to drink a sh*t-ton. And then more of your time will be involved with walking, because you’ll have to pee a lot, and that will keep you awake. So drink more water, and then maybe in the afternoon, get yourself a coffee that’s not loaded with sh*t. Have a coffee, if you’re drinking caffeine; I like to have coffee sometimes if I’m feeling a little bit off from that day, having a little bit of extra coffee to keep me going and to keep me from snacking too much. But water, soda water, and then a little bit of coffee. That’s my recommendation; some people will be like, “No, don’t do caffeine!” Whatever.
9. Increased cravings around that time of the month [46:13]
Ok, this one is from Lindsey. “Do you find you’re hungry around that time of the month or from certain workouts, and how do you address that? When I spin, I feel like I’m ravenous the following day. Just trying to listen to my body and eat good foods.” So, funny you ask that about that time of the month, because sorry to gross you out; that time of the month may be in my life right now, and yesterday I was super hungry, and I was hungry all day, so I ate more. Your body is telling you; if you’re not addicted to sugar, your body is telling you something for a reason, unless you’re talking to yourself, and you’re like, “oh, it’s my period, I’m going to have 47 brownies.” No, you just talked yourself into that. But yesterday I was legitimately hungry, and I was like; ok, maybe I’m not hungry. I’m just going to drink a full water bottle; so I drank a full thing of water out of my water bottle, and I was still hungry. So I’m like, ok, I’m going to eat more food!
That being said, I try not to overdo it with sugar when I’m around my period; I just try not to do that any time, but it still does happen. So yesterday I made a snack; I bought this cheese that was on sale, and I don’t eat cheese on a regular basis, but it was like cheese cubes, this really good cheese, and then I had this dolmas; you know, grape leaves wrapped around rice; so I had some of that. So it was like starch and a little bit of fat, and it’s like that umami with the cheese type flavor that you get; and then I felt satisfied without having sweets. So listen to your body; your body is telling you that maybe you’re ravenous from spin because you burn more calories, maybe, than you usually do and you need a little bit more food. And just like you said; just listen to your body and eat foods that you know are best for you, and not go into a bag of chips at the office because you’re starving. So just having those foods that are good for you, and listening to your body. Your body is telling you something for a reason; listen to it. It knows best.
I was talking to my nail tech the other day, and we were talking about birth, and she was like; yeah, I had the epidural. I wish I didn’t, just because your body just knows what to do, and it just goes into animal instinct mode, and gets it out.” {laughs} And that’s what it’s making me think of. Your body knows what to do; it will tell you what is best, you just have to listen to it. As long as you’re not addicted to sugar; because sugar is cocaine.
10. Portion control when you don’t feel full [48:46]
Ok, Flea. “I am a bottomless pit, especially at night after I had a stressful day and come home and make a quick paleo meal and sweet treat for dessert. How do you stop yourself to continue, even though you don’t feel full?” So, if you’re eating clean food; if you’re eating grass-fed beef, grass-finished, pasture-raised, hormone-free meat; and you’re eating a sh*t-ton of vegetables, green vegetables, and maybe a starchy carbohydrate on the side too; getting a ton of vegetables in your diet; and you’re eating all of that and you’re still feeling hungry, I would recommend eating more vegetables. Get more greens in your diet. They’re low in calories but they’re going to give you so much nutrients. And maybe you need a little bit more protein; maybe you need to cook your vegetables in fat. But listen to your body.
If you are eating your paleo meal, and then you’re eating your sweet treat, and you’re still hungry; that may be because of that sugar spiking your insulin and making you feel hungry again. So it might be worth taking that sweet treat out of your diet, upping your meal size, and drinking more water and seeing how you’re feeling from that. When I eat a sh*t-ton of vegetables, and I eat the right meat, I don’t feel hungry afterwards when I’m drinking enough water. And if I find myself going back because I’m hungry, it’s usually because I’m a little addicted to sugar and my insulin is spiking, causing me to feel like I need more food. So keep that in mind; I hope that helps.
11. Eating slower [50:22]
Cooking in code. “I have a hard time eating slowly, and giving my body enough time to know it’s full. I don’t want to chew my food a certain number of times, or whatever bullsh*t, but I’m not sure how to take the time with food and savor it more. What do you do to slow down and enjoy your food?” Drink water in between eating.
So my husband eats his food so fast, and it stresses me the f*ck out, because he’ll inhale his food and then he’ll go back for seconds sometimes, and stand over the pan, and leave me at the dinner table. I’m like; dude, we’re eating dinner together, and you’re shoving your food in and then you’re standing over the plan eating more. Sit down, breath in between bites. He can eat the food however the f*ck he wants, but breath.
So I recommend drinking water. And I find myself; because of him, I’ll eat faster, and then I’m like, “I’m not even thinking about what I’m eating. I’m not enjoying it, I just cooked this meal. I’m sure as f*ck going to enjoy it.” So I’ll slow down; I’ll put my fork down, and since he doesn’t stay that long at the table, I’ll get on my phone, look at something. It just gets me to stop eating for a second, digesting my food a little bit more. But drink water between. That’s going to slow you down; that’s going to make you just take a second a breath. Have a conversation with your significant other; whatever, look at your phone. Look at someone’s Instagram; look at someone’s Snapchat. Just do something that’s going to make you take a break and let your food digest a little bit more. That’s what’s helped me, personally.
12. Weighing your food [51:57]
This one; “Based on your podcast and blog, I would be surprised if you weigh your food, so how do you decide what an appropriate serving size of protein, carbs, and fat is? I follow RP strength templates, loosely, and find that if I take the time to weight my food, I end up with a good size portion that doesn’t leave me too full. How do you do that without a scale?”
You know, I think; I don’t weigh my food. I did when I first started Zone; and that was a long time ago, and that lead me to very obsessive, unhappy behaviors. So I think food becomes kind of like muscle memory. You see a certain chicken breast, you make this chicken breasts; and you know it’s size, you know what it looks like, you know kind of how many pieces you’re getting out of it, if you’re slicing it; whatever. You have this visual in your head. And say you eat that entire chicken breast, you eat your vegetables, and you’re like; well, I’m still kind of hungry. Ok, maybe I need more chicken breast. So the next time around, you have a little bit more chicken breast because you have that view point, that muscle memory, that vision of how much food you had last time, and you weren’t fully full.
So the more I cook, and the more I cook my food for myself, the more I look at a piece of chicken, a piece of meat, a piece of pork; and I know how much is going to make me full. That being said; it totally changes depending on the day; maybe I’m on my period and I need more food. Maybe I’m just not hungry that much because I cooked all day and I snacked on that. Maybe I just didn’t have as hard of a workout as I did the day before, and so my food size is a little bit smaller; or maybe it’s bigger. You know; it changes daily. But I think the more you cook for yourself, the more aware you get of what size meals and what size portions make you feel the most comfortable. “Oh, ok I ate this and I felt too overly full; I don’t want to feel like that next time so I need to cut down the amount of red meat that I ate last time.”
I think your body just tells you what to do; it’s just the more you cook for yourself, the more you become aware of those sizes, and you can kind of get away from the weighing. I don’t ever weigh carbs; I don’t think about fat. I cook my vegetables in fat, and I just try to eat green vegetables and then I’ll add in a starchy carbohydrate; but when I start getting; you know, I’m like satisfied, not crazy full, but I don’t want to push it. That’s when I usually stop eating, and that’s how I figured out; trial and error. But I don’t weigh, and I don’t plan to any time soon.
13. Adjusting portions for workouts [54:46]
CrossFit Gypsy; “Do your portion sizes according to your workouts and training style?” No. They do not change depending on my workouts or training style. I tried that back in the day where I would eat less on rest days; or no sweet potatoes on rest days; and it led to more bad behaviors; it led to binging because I was starving my body of what it really wanted. So I really don’t change my diet; maybe I do, but I don’t think about it. I see meals the same; sometimes I add in starchy carbs, sometimes I don’t. But I don’t change with my workouts. I know my body will kind of tell me if it needs something or if it doesn’t. But yeah, I just don’t. And, it has led to better behaviors in the end. So yeah.
And a lot of times, I think when I have rest days, I have more free time so I find myself eating more because I don’t have a workout that’s hindering my appetite and I have more free time on my hands. And usually I’d be like, no I need to eat less. But my body is eating a little bit more and that’s just how it is. So, I just don’t do that.
14. Food timing and intuitive eating [56:04]
Ashley Bree. “How do you figure out what type of food;” I wonder if I’m supposed to say people’s names on here. If you guys don’t want me to, just let me know next time. “How do you figure out what type of food to eat at what time of the day? For example; do you eat carbs in the morning and less at night? How many snacks do you eat per day and how much? And how do you start your portions when you begin eating intuitively?”
So, I don’t think about certain food groups. I always try to eat protein, fat, and carbs at my 3 meals a day. And I also always try to eat some sort of leafy green; I feel better when I have more leafy greens in my diet, so I always try to have some leafy green at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Doesn’t always happen but I try to. And I definitely don’t think about when I should have carbs or when I shouldn’t; I just sometimes eat them and sometimes don’t. And that’s that. But, I just know that I do well with protein, carbs, and fat at those three meals.
And for the snacks; “How many snacks to you eat per day?” I usually eat two probably on average, two per day depending on how much I’m cooking that day for the blog. But it’s usually two snacks in the afternoon, depending on how big my lunch was. Because lunches for me just tend to be smaller, because I just don’t have time, so then I’ll find myself a little bit hungrier towards the afternoon once I get started cooking, I start to get hungry so I’ll have a snack while I’m cooking a little bit. So I’ll usually have two. And there’s no certain size. There’s no black and white.
I just; let me think. I had a snack; you know, I just said that cheese squares and a dolma. Sometimes I’ll have; am I saying that right? Dolma? It just sounds weird to say. Sometimes I’ll have some smoked salmon with some cream cheese; or I’ll have. Oh, this awesome company sent me some rice cakes; and when I think of rice cakes, I think of dieting, because I used to try to eat just rice cakes for meals when I was trying to starve myself to death. But now I’ll have rice cake, and I’ll put peanut butter and jelly on top of it, and it’s like a peanut butter and jelly open-faced sandwich. It’s so good.
And you know; all my snacks look different in size. Sometimes it will be a small as like half a Larabar because I’m just about to get into a workout, and I just want something to settle my stomach, but I don’t want much food. So all of my snacks are different sizes, and I don’t have it at certain times of the day.
And when you’re starting out eating intuitively, and starting out with your portions, there’s no rhyme or reason. Everybody’s body is so different, and your lifestyles are so different, and your training is so different. I can’t tell you that. But I think it’s just smart to get a sh*t-ton of vegetables in your diet, make sure you’re eating all of your vegetables and cooking them in healthy fat, and you’re looking at how much meat you’re eating. When you finish your meal; say you just have a chicken breast, or a steak, figure out how full you’re feeling. Most people, women I would say; most women, but I’m not trying to generalize. Say you have think chicken breast, a big one; not just a little dainty one. But a big chicken breast; most women, or people who are not on a crazy training lifestyle or just have a crazy metabolism will be satisfied with that chicken breast. Maybe that’s going to be a little bit much for people. So keep that in mind. I bought a chicken breast; how did I feel from eating that? And it’s just starting to pick through; why do I feel good here, why did I feel too full here, how do I change it, and then you can kind of change it from there.
15. Regulate the junk [1:00:01]
Ok, next question. “I’d like to ask, how to listen to your body. When you’re hungry,” in this part, I think she wrote this wrong. “When you’re funny; so hard for me to know.” I’m not sure what that means. “How do you handle bad foods. In other words, do you eat junk? How do you integrate that into your diet? Basically I’m having a hard time eating what’s right in the right amount at the right time, and sugar cravings. Ugh!”
Ok, like I said before. I don’t think I eat junk, personally. Maybe some people who are like super paleo, deep in the woods paleo people, think me having a Larabar is junk, but I don’t think I eat junk. I don’t eat things that I don’t know what the ingredients are. I know where my food comes from. I don’t eat junk; I don’t eat fast food, I don’t drink pop, I don’t eat boxed goods like Oreos, like bullsh*t foods. I eat foods that I understand the ingredients, and I try to stay away from sugar because sugar really is the devil. And I love sugar; and I’m going on vacation, I’m going to have dessert at these places that I’m going. But when I’m in my day to day life, I try to regulate that.
So, if you are trying to regulate sh*tty food in your diet, it’s not going to work out well. Maybe there are some people out there who can go to McDonald’s and then go about their day to day life and not eat sh*t later on, but most people who are going to McDonald’s are having McDonald’s on a regular basis. Maybe some people are having it once in a great while, but most people are going back to that because they know it’s easy, and they know it’s going to taste “good” because they’ve integrated that into their diet.
So staying away from sugar, and cutting out the sh*t. If you don’t know the ingredients, don’t eat; and don’t drink sugar. Only drink water. And then you’ll be able to listen to your body more. If you’re just filled with sugar cravings and sh*tty food inside your body, your body is not able to regulate and you’re not able to listen to the actual cues. So cleaning out your diet, and eating the foods that are good for you; the well-raised, well-taken care of meat, vegetables, eating green vegetables; getting some carbohydrates in depending on what your exercise routine is, and drinking a sh*t-ton of water. And I promise you, you’ll be able to feel the signs and listen to the signs more and more.
16. Levels of fullness [1:02:28]
OK, this next one. “Do you always feel full once you eat your meals? Is it, ‘Yep, I’m satisfied!’ or, ‘I could eat more, but I won’t.’ Or, ‘I’m stuffed.’ Also, do you eat when you’re hungry, or just when it’s time to eat?”
Hi Jackson! Oh, my doggie just came in. So, I try to eat slow enough that I’m able to kind of feel my body start to digest things. So I try to stop when I’m satisfied, and sometimes I know that I should probably be stopping, but I just don’t want to yet. I made taco meat the other night, and I was just f*cking into it. And I was like; you know, I’m pretty satisfied but I want a little bit more, and I’m just having some meat and vegetables. I’m not going to feel like, overly crazy stuffed. But I know that I’m getting to that point. And if I’m getting to that point, I can usually say, “ok, I don’t need to eat more.” This I just wanted to eat a little bit more, I don’t know why. It’s usually because my body is saying, “give me a little bit more.”
But I also; I try to only eat when I’m hungry, and I know those time frames that I’m usually going to get hungry, and I don’t let it get crazy hungry. So there’s that point where you’re too hungry, and you’re like, “I’ll eat f*cking anything!” And then you’re just stuffing everything in because you’re so hungry. So if I know, I’ll usually be hungry around noon; I’m not hungry yet; we’ll I’m going to probably eat within that hour even though I’m not starving yet, because that will make sure that I don’t make bad decisions later. So that’s kind of how I regulate my hunger throughout the day. That’s what works best for me.
17. Portioning sweets [1:04:15]
Ok, this next one is, “My question is, how do you control your portions of sweet things? I find that it’s so hard to eat in moderation, even if I have sliced something into portions and frozen it, I’ll still end up getting an extra slice and defrosting it in the microwave. Should I therefore cut out all sugar?”
You know, that’s a slippery slope and everybody’s different. But if you find yourself going back; you know you’re not craving it but your body’s like, “I just need more!” And you’re taken it out of the freezer, it’s probably something you should get rid of for a while, and moderate that sugar craving, and get that under control, and then you’ll probably be able to keep those foods in there. Or say there are trigger things; like, I don’t know what foods are like triggers. And more things used to be trigger stuff for me in the past, but if you have certain trigger foods that you know that you cannot regulate, I wouldn’t keep them in the house for a little while until you really get those sugar cravings under control.
And then, for me; speaking just from my experience, after cutting out sugar for a decent amount of time, and then adding it back in, now I can keep things in the house and I don’t find myself going back to it more and more. If it’s something that I do, then I know that I should not have it in the house and I’ll take it to friends. Take it to the gym, whoever wants to take it. So it’s probably worth cutting out sugar for a while until you feel like you have those cravings under control more.
18. Timing food with workouts [1:05:43]
Ok, this next one. “If you work out at 8:30, do you eat before or do you just wait until you’re done working out?” So I’ve been working out more in the mornings because I’ve been going to an Orange Theory class, sometimes a CrossFit class. So, today I did a CrossFit class at 9, so what I’ve been doing; usually I’ll have yogurt, Maple Hill or Bellwether Farms. I really like those yogurt companies, and they have grass-fed yogurt, and sheep’s milk; and I’ll add in some gluten free granola. I’m obsessed with Purely Elizabeth Gluten-free granola; it’s f*cking money. It’s so good. I wish I would have hit that booth when I was at Expo West just to praise her for how good her granola is.
But I’ll add in probably two tablespoons of granola into my yogurt; I’ll have that yogurt, probably an hour before my workout; and then workout, and I try to have a full breakfast afterwards. It’s kind of at a funny time, 10 o’clock, and then I’ll be a little bit more satisfied, and I won’t have lunch until 1, maybe a little bit later after that. So that’s what’s been working best for me, and I feel really good, is having that yogurt and granola before my workout. And no, it’s not paleo, but that’s just what works best for me.
19. Protein amount [1:07:07]
This next question; “Can you give an estimation of how much protein you eat a day? I’ve gone back and forth with paleo based diet and If It Fits Your Macros,” I f*cking hate that acronym for some reason. “Tracking on My Fitness Pal, and trying to get a certain amount of protein based on my body weight. I’m trying to build muscle, and it’s a struggle to get so much protein every day. But you seem to not have to eat too much, and still get great results.”
I literally have 100% no idea how much protein I eat in a day. I couldn’t even guestimate it. I literally; I couldn’t even. I have no idea at all. So I’m sorry I can’t help with that. If you’re having trouble with figuring that stuff out, talk with someone who is a specialist with you and knows you; I would talk to a coach or a nutritionist. Someone who knows your body, knows your diet, knows your lifestyle, who can help with that because I just don’t know you so I can’t really give you any advice with that. But I have no idea how much protein I eat in a day, and I wish I could guess for you.
20. Smaller dishes [1:08:19]
This next question; “Do you think tricking the mind into smaller sized dishes helps? I’m in the market, but can’t seem to find any cute dish sets that are smaller than normal human sized portions.” Um, I definitely think that helps. If you ever see my plates, you’ll see the whole plate is filled with food, and I started doing that because when I take food photos, it just looks prettier when a full plate of food is there. But it does; I think having your full plate, and you’re just using a salad plate and it’s filled with food, I think that definitely tricks you in a way.
My husband hates when I give him food on that size plate; he’s like, “What the hell is this?” So I always give him a bigger plate to use and me the smaller plate, but I definitely think it is a little bit of a mind trick. It just keeps you locked into those parameters, and for me I know that size plate for that amount of food is what I need usually for that day, maybe a little more, a little less. But I think it definitely helps, and I got my plates at World Market; so there you go. I mean, they’re white; they’re not cute. But whatever.
21. Snacking while traveling [1:09:32]
Ok, this is the last question. This is; I kept this sh*t together, not super long podcast today. I feel like I’m getting close to two hours sometimes, and I don’t know if people like that. I love long podcasts, because it gives me something to listen to more, but I don’t know if other people love that. So, ok, “What are your tricks to avoid snacking because you’re bored versus snacking when you’re hungry; especially while flying and traveling?”
Like I said before, drink water. If you are drinking more water; not only will you have to pee, but it’s going to kind of settle some of those cravings that you might have. And then on travel days, have something to do. I always pack snacks, and only eat those snacks when I’m hungry. Because, I always have something to do on flights. So I’m always working on my computer; so if you have work to do, get your work done, watch a movie, read a book, play a game, keep yourself occupied; talk to someone. But just do stuff on a plane. Obviously, it gets hard when you’re flying on a flight that’s like 13 f*cking hours. But, you know, make your time valuable and for me, a flight means I’m working. If there’s not Wi-Fi, I lose my f*cking sh*t. Not on anybody else, but in my mind, I lose my sh*t. Because flights for me are work time. It’s not for talking, it’s not for sleeping; I have sh*t to do, I’m going to get it done. So, yeah, fill your time with better things and just figure out what it needs to be. Read a book, play a game, work on your phone, write notes. I like to start planning out recipes; just do some stuff.
So that’s all my stuff! That’s all I have to tell you guys. I’m so f*cking thirsty! I almost stopped mid-podcast and be like; be right back! And play a little music, because I needed water so bad. But I held out, because I just needed to get this done. Because I’m leaving for San Diego, and I still need to pack, and my friend is playing, he just started doing DJ stuff, like f*cking playing shows, and he just had a show a couple of weeks ago and he has another one tonight, and he’s like the opener at this club, and so it’s just 10 to 11:15. So I’m trying to get everything done, and then not really put on that much makeup but still go to the show, and still look good for the people who are booking him at the show that he doesn’t have haggard people who have spray tan lines all over their body; whatever. I’m just trying to get my sh*t together so I can go to this show tonight, and then sleep, and get on a flight tomorrow. We’ll see if I can make it.
Anyways; that’s all I got for you guys today. I hope that answered some of your questions. Remember, if you ever have any questions that I can answer hopefully, head to www.PaleOMG.com and just leave me a little question; because I answer questions on the comment section on my blog way faster than emails. I’m sure maybe one or two of you have emailed and probably never got an email back; and I can promise you that it’s a small chance that you will; because I have one good email day every four months. I f*cking hate emails. So leave a comment, because you’ll actually get an answer back, and you’re awesome. Ok?
I hope you guys have a wonderful weekend. I hope you do great stuff. Don’t forget to rate, review, and subscribe. If you hate this podcast, and you want to leave a bad review; don’t. Be better than that.
Oh, before I let you go; I’ve had this internal battle recently. Because I told you, maybe last week, how I had a bad experience at this lash place and they fucked up my lashes and it’s going to take forever for them to grow out. They fucked up a lash lift, and they tried to fix it. But she didn’t give my money back; she tried to fix it and didn’t fix it, never gave my money back. So I never leave reviews; I’ve left a couple of nice Amazon reviews for books that I’ve loved; I think I left one good Yelp review for this nail place because they were so nice; but I’ve never left a bad review, because it’s just not worth f*cking time.
But, I don’t want other people to go through the same experience as I did, with having sh*tty lash lift and then your lashes get all fucked up. So do I leave a negative review, with the end that they do a really good job of lash tinting so I do have a positive part to leave? What do I do guys? Because I’m telling you don’t leave a bad review of my podcast; because you know what? Podcasts, you can f*cking turn it off in seconds if you’re like, “I hate this b*tch.” That’s fair. But lash lifting; this is going to last for like 10 weeks. My lashes are fucked up for like 10 weeks! That’s a long-ass time. You don’t have to listen to a podcast straight for 10 weeks.
So what do I do, guys? Will you go to my Instagram, or my blog and tell me what to do? Should I leave a bad review just letting them know what happened, I didn’t get my money back but they do a good job with tinting? Tell me what to do. Be my voice of reason, because it’s still; I’ve been thinking about it constantly. Ok?
Ok. That’s all I got for you guys today. Rate, review, subscribe. Let me know if you have any podcast topics that you want me to cover. I love your advice; you guys are awesome. Thanks so much for leaving questions. Thanks for being the best. Hope you have a great weekend. Do bomb-ass sh*t, guys. Be a bomb-ass b*tch! Bye!
Great podcast. I had to laugh (sorry) about your husband inhaling his food and then hovering over the pot in the kitchen as you are sitting at the table enjoying your food! Such a guy thing.
Agree you should leave a review of the lash place as it will give others the heads up. I can’t imagine you would be mean about it and you did give them feedback directly first.
Maybe this will help others with portion sizes. I also listen to my body and don’t count macros or weigh my food, and never have, however I generally eyeball about 6 oz of meat or salmon for lunch and dinner, some starchy carbs, healthy fat (olive oil, avocado, and use ghee or coconut oil for cooking) and fill up the plate with green vegetables and go from there. If I’m still hungry after eating, I try to gauge what my body needs and eat more of that, usually some more vegetables and healthy fat. Drinking lots of water throughout the day is also important as you discussed.
I absolutely agree with you on the gluten subject and how the body is just not sure how to digest it. I understand that everybody’s body is different. What are your thoughts on dairy and how it reacts to some people’s body? I drink whole milk in my coffee every morning and some yogurt and cottage cheese. My body reacts fine to it most of the time but is it really worth consuming?
i think there are great sources of dairy out there, you just have to know what to look for and know the source. i don’t think it’s a necessity, but if your body digests it well, then why not have it in your diet. i see dairy as more of an enjoyment than a necessity in my own personal diet! love me some sheeps yogurt and cheese sometimes, but i definitely don’t NEED it
On slowing down, chew your food to a cream instead of drinking. I don’t personally do this, but I’ve read that drinking water while eating dilutes your digestive acids and can make digestion worse. Just FYI.
You mentioned how your husband eats fast and goes back for more! My husband is super skinny and eats 2 huge plates of food every night! I, however cannot do that! But since we’ve been married, I find myself adopting to his “ways” and eating more food! You mentioned checking your phone to distract you and slow it down. Wondering if you have any other tips for not getting that second plate of food. It’s so true what they say; you really do adopt the habits of the person you live with! Thanks and your podcast is hysterical! I love it!
i think it’s important to just remind yourself that you’re not your husband. when i go out with my friends that are drinking all day and having so much fun, i want to adopt that behaviors but i stand strong because i know i won’t be happy with myself the next day. and i know that alcohol affects me differently than them. at the end of the day, your body and your genetics are different than every single person out there and you have to remember that and remember what is best for your own body.
Hi Juli! What brand of rice cakes do you like?
i get mine from thrive market!