Welcome to my series, “What I’m into Wednesdays” (WII2W)! On Wednesdays, I’ll be taking a little time to go in-depth about products, concepts, or ideas that I’ve been “into” lately. Whatever it is that I’m into this week, hopefully it inspires you and you can get into it to!

Over the last few months, I have completely fallen off.

Fallen off the the healthy eating bandwagon that is. Between moving, getting married, visiting family and friends, and traveling for work, I cannot get a handle on my diet!

For instance, last week my in-laws came to town and my husband and I took them to their favorite Texas BBQ spot for dinner. Now I love me some goooooood BBQ (said in my Sweet Brown voice) but after feasting on a full spread of brisket, ribs, hot sausage, smoked turkey, baked beans, and corn…I was down for the count, ya’ll. Down.

I don’t know if this was my body’s breaking point after weeks of eating equally unhealthy (yet delicious) meals but I felt completely out of wack. I felt very sluggish. I was getting migraines frequently. My stomach was bloated. Something had to change!

My New Healthy Eating Plan

And that “something” was my diet. No more excuses (“I’m too tired to cook…”) no more messing around, I needed to get my life together. After a swift, self-administered kick in the pants, here’s the healthy eating habits I’ve incorporated over the last few days. I know I can’t eat perfect 100% of the time, but my goal is to make these habits the core of my healthy lifestyle:

Drink 2-3 Liters of Water

Drinking water has been a life-long struggle for me — I blame my parents for letting me grow up on Capri Suns the yellow and red packets of powdered Kool-Aid (remember those???). Developing a taste for water as an adult has been challenging, but I’m committed to making water my main beverage of choice.

Using the common “how much water should I drink?” formula of bodyweight in pounds/2 = ounces of water to drink per day, I’ve determined that 75oz, or about 2.25 liters of water a day is my goal. To achieve this goal I have two weapons in my arsenal:

1. My trusty-dusty 1L size Camelback water bottle and…
2. The Waterlogged app on iPhone, so I can keep tack of my intake throughout the day.

Eat Fresh Fruit and Dark Leafy Greens Daily

I used to be better about getting fruits and veggies in my diet when I was eating green smoothies every morning, but I’ve fallen off the smoothie wagon as well. (Don’t judge.) I plan to get back in the fruit and green-eatin’ game by:

1. Prepping my green smoothies at night so all I have to do is turn on my NutriBullet (best kitchen gadget ever, by the way…) and blend ’em up real quick in the morning.
2. Snacking on fresh fruit throughout the day.
3. Making sure I eat a side salad, even if its small, with at least one meal per day, even if (especially if) I’m eating out at a restaurant.

Eat Less Meat (2-3 servings per week)

In addition to the Kool-aid and Capri Suns (see above), I grew up eating a very meat-focused diet. My mom was always off and on high-protein plans like the Atkins diet so we never ate meals that didn’t include some meat on the plate.

I still vividly remember the complete confusion I had when a friend at school told me her family made pasta for dinner the night before. “Like chicken alfredo?” I innocently asked. “No, just pasta and salad,” she cheerfully responded. What?!?! I literally ran home and asked my mom was it “normal” to have dinner without meat in it. As a kid, that was the height of craziness to me! Surely there was a rule against such things…

As an adult, however, I now see the virtues of eating less meat. After watching documentaries like Food, Inc. and Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and reading books like Fast Food Nation, By Any Greens Necessary, and Eat to Live, I’m sickeningly aware of how unhealthy and downright dangerous conventional meat produced in America is. Between the hormones the animals are fed, the diseases they contract in the unsanitary factory conditions, and the contaminants that end up in the meat during processing, its no wonder so many of us are chronically sick in this country.

While I’m aware I can avoid many of the above horrors by opting for organic, grass fed, pasture-raised meat, to be honest, such pristine meat is (1) expensive and (2) a challenge to find. To make things easier on myself, I figured I’ll take the hint from my little friend way back in grade school and simply opt for more meals without meat in them. This will give me a chance to load up on all those nuts, fruits, veggies, and beans I need to be eating anyway. Thus, when I am craving a good lamb chop (my fav!), I can spring the extra cash for the organic kind.

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So that’s my healthy eating plan and I’m sticking to it!

Discussion:

Have you ever “fallen off the wagon?” How did you get it together? What does healthy eating look like for you?

(Photo via)

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