Your Green Shake Ain’t Got Nothing On My Ice Cream

Want to know a secret?

I eat ice cream. Probably 2-3 nights/week.

Whoa, WHAT?! A fitness coach eating something other than apples with peanut butter for dessert? YUP. I know what you’re thinking. It must be fat-free or maybe I measure it out only allowing myself to have 2 tablespoons. No way, I like the real stuff, and if by measuring out you mean picking out the chunks of cookie dough or peanut butter before having the rest, then sure.

 

Honestly I don’t have the patience for that “measure your food” shiz. Don’t get me wrong, it’s ok to do so, especially if you have a goal such as a competition or a photo shoot coming up. It’s just not for me.

Currently there are a ton of restrictive diets we are trying to follow. Don’t eat any carbs, no sugar, limit fat, eat only protein and veggies etc. You may lose a few pounds while doing one of these, but how sustainable is this? If you have only protein and veggies for 2 weeks you’re probably going to feel low on energy and end up binging on a pizza or whatever it may be. Because let’s face it, we are human. We like to indulge in food from time to time, go out with friends and have a burger and a beer or a glass of wine. Diets are a short term solution that do not yield lasting results. And once that time is up you go back to the way you ate previously and gain it all back. Yikes, that sucks.

So why not practice eating in a way that becomes a lifestyle change for you? Something sustainable and stress- free.

Here are 3 tips to help you do so:

1. Eat food you like. If you’re waking up and slamming down a green smoothie while holding your nose so you don’t taste it just because you heard it’s a great way to start the day and will help you lose fat, STOP. Have something for breakfast that you can actually stomach. Try eggs with a side of veggies and bacon, and double up on the veggies while having just enough bacon to satisfy your needs. The point is to eat something that is healthy but that you don’t mind having. This way you can continue to eat this each day rather than looking forward to the 14 day diet being over.

2. Before you eat something think about how it will make you feel afterward. Confession: I LOVE Italian food. I used to happily polish off a plate of eggplant parmesan with angel hair pasta, but afterward I’d feel like crap. My stomach would bother me and I’d be bloated for the next few days. So I stopped eating pasta. WHAT KIND OF ITALIAN DOESN’T EAT PASTA?! Me. Oh well. I still have the eggplant parm but I get veggies with it instead. I leave the restaurant feeling guilt-free and I don’t need to unbutton my jeans before sitting down in the car.

3. When you’re full, stop eating. This is how I eat ice cream in the evenings. A few nights a week my boyfriend and I eat dinner and watch tv for an hour. Half way through the show, we pause it and clear our plates and take out our containers of ice cream to thaw a bit. We then finish the show and eat our deliciousness. NOT the whole container, just enough to feel satisfied and back in the freezer it goes. For those of you who need something more measurable, it probably ends up being ¼ of a cup if I had to guess.

To sum up: eat foods you like, that won’t make you feel like crap afterward, and stop eating when you feel full. This seems like a manageable way to still eat what you enjoy while not feeling guilty about it, right? Making these adjustments to your daily nutrition will help promote a lifestyle change you can stick with.