What to eat, what to eat...?

About three months ago, Scott and I (mostly Scott) decided to get serious about our nutrition. We were both a bit of the typical scenario. We knew how to eat healthy and we did...for the most part. If someone were to ask us at the time, "are you a healthy eater?", we would both answer with a definite YES...for the most part. "For the most part", however, does not cut it. Our diet was actually pretty loose if we were completely honest. We would eat light/diet/low fat/low calorie options when available, eat frequent meals, always eat breakfast, and rarely eat junk food. (This may sound like you too, and you may be thinking what's wrong with this?) Not until we finally buckled down and ordered Precision Nutrition did we realize how off we really were.

Scott decided he finally wanted to get lean and ripped for once in his life. Lean and ripped is enticing, but being pregnant, I decided it was simply a good idea to make healthier choices for proper weight gain and a healthy baby. So Precision Nutrition showed up and we started reading through the well-written manual about how to finally eat correctly. These are the rules (or habits):

1. Eat every 2-4 hours
2. Eat complete, lean protein with each meal
3. Eat vegetables with each meal
4. If fat loss is your goal, eat veggies & fruits with any meal; "other carbs" only after exercise
5. Eat healthy fats daily
6. Don't drink beverages that contain any calories
7. Eat whole foods instead of supplements (or processed foods) whenever possible
8. Plan ahead and prepare food in advance
9. Eat as wide a variety of good foods as possible
10. Plan to break the rules 10% of the time

So we realized our "healthy eating habits" were not hitting the mark at all. My veggies consisted of tomatoes here and there, salsa, baby carrots, and maybe frozen corn with dinner. I ate starchy carbs like they were going out of style. (My thinking was that since they were whole grains and usually of the brown variety they were a good choice. I realized that timing is key!) The amount of packaged and processed foods in our house was astounding, actually. Most of them had some sort of light/low fat/healthy label, but I'd have to have a degree in food science to understand 90% of the ingredients! We cleaned out our cupboards and fridge and filled them back up with lean meats and cheeses, eggs, tons of veggies & fruits, strange cooking oils (coconut oil!), lentils and beans, and protein powders.

Well, 3+ months later here are the results: Our fridge and cupboards still look different. We plow through produce and usually have to make several trips per week to stock up on fruits and veggies. I've discovered some veggies that are good substitutes for the starchier varieties. Turnips and sweet potatoes now take the place of regular potatoes. We eat eggs, A LOT! Protein shakes are now commonplace. Mindless snacking doesn't exist anymore (sorry Wheat Thins!).

There are some areas where I still fall short. I still have cereal for breakfast ~3-4 days per week. I get calories from beverages at least 3-4 times per week from my latte. I still eat my processed low-fat, but sugary ice cream nearly every night. And I'm hardly 90% compliant; more like 70%. Now for my excuses: I'm not trying to lose fat so I don't have to keep an eye on the starchy carbs and other rules as much as someone else. And I'm pregnant, so that means I can eat what I want because I'm eating for two. (Haha! Not true, but I've definitely heard this one plenty.)

Overall, my diet looks drasctically different than what it looked like four months ago. Even for being pregnant, my skin is healthier, I have adequate energy, I've gained just the right amount of weight (17 pounds so far), I have low blood pressure, no risk of gestational diabetes, and I bet even at the cellular level things look pretty darn healthy. More importantly, at each of my doctor's checkups my growing baby is right on track with a super strong heartbeat and no complications whatsoever.

I plan on continuing to eat like this for the remainder of my pregnancy. After this little guy comes, my goal is to buckle down and get closer to 90% compliance. My hope is to quickly lose any extra weight I may have gained, and to simply be as healthy as possible to keep up with my son and meet all of his needs. Plus, we want to have a very healthy household, so we're establishing good eating habits that we can pass on to our kids as well.

Exercise note: For the record, I did finish all of my planned workouts last week. I strength trained Friday, walked briskly & purposefully for 30 minutes on Saturday (not without plenty of Braxton Hicks, darn it), and strength trained Sunday.