Saturday, August 20, 2011

What I Eat: The August Edition

Thanks to all H-A readers for your patience over the past few weeks.  It's good to be back!

I started the What I Eat series in May and posted another piece to this series in July.  The August installment features a few days from this past week: 

Sunday
8:30 AM: A few ounces of cheddar and blue cheese with a fruit salad (strawberries, grapes, and half of an apple), courtesy of Delta Airlines. 
1 PM: Alaskan salmon and carrots topped with melted butter
3 PM: 4 eggs over-easy with a banana  
7:30 PM: Alaskan salmon topped with melted butter (delicious leftovers from before) along with a handful of sugar plum tomatoes 


Monday
11:30 AM: 4 eggs scrambled, an apple, and a handful of blackberries 
2:30 PM: Large bowl of spinach, spring mix, tomato slices, pickle slices, sardines, olive oil, and white Italian vinegar
4 PM: A banana 
6 PM: Red sockeye salmon, a handful of carrots, and a few handfuls of sunflower seeds. 

Tuesday
11 AM: 4 eggs over-easy, an apple, and a handful of blackberries.
3 PM: A banana
4:30 PM: A few mussels along with a salad consisting of spinach, carrots, sugar plum tomatoes, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.
7 PM: Four Italian sausages, diced tomatoes in balsamic vinegar, and a glass of red wine.


Organic Priorities

Is everything in my diet organic?  No.  I have two simple guidelines for when I go organic versus when I don't:

  1. Edible exterior = Organic. Many fruits and vegetables with edible exteriors, such as strawberries and bell peppers, contain stronger and higher quantities of pesticides (I can't even pronounce many of the pesticides used on California strawberries).  In addition, many of these foods have been dyed to look more appealing.  Do I really want to put that crap in my body?  No!  When it comes to the non-edible exteriors, such as bananas, I decide whether or not to go for organic based on the price difference.
  2. Higher on the Food Chain = Organic. When eating animals, I typically go for the best quality possible.  Conventional meat comes from animals that were given hormone treatments, antibiotics, ate poor diets, and could have inherited other toxins from their environment and foods.  Therefore, I go with wild-caught fish, certified organic and grass-fed meat, and free range eggs.
Dining out, which I do about once or twice per week, is the only exception to these rules.  As I'm sure you know, few restaurants have organic options, so I bite the bullet and go with conventionally-produced foods in those instances.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Sean,

I just read your blog and am curious as to how you eat when your on vacation? Eating healthy when i'm at home is one thing but when i'm on vacation i find it a lot harder to stick to the right diet. (this is kristen by the way! i hope your doing well!)

Dr. Sean Preuss said...

Hey Kristen,

Great question. I have used past vacations as experiments: some I ate horribly throughout (which is the strategy of many that I know), and some I stuck to my usual diet. I felt better and ENJOYED MYSELF MORE when sticking to my usual diet, so that's what I do now. In general, I eat some kind of dessert once per week, so I might eat dessert twice a week on vacation. Otherwise, I stick to eating vegetables, meat, fish, eggs, and fruit while avoiding the processed foods, grains, and legumes. I hope that helps.

Floriana said...

Hi Sean,
Lots of fruit on your menus all of a sudden. How come?
Nice meals, btw. Salmon - yum!

Dr. Sean Preuss said...

Floriana,

I converted to a more plant-based diet. Honestly, eating more fruit has increased my satiety and aided my weight loss. I'll blog about my recent weight loss tricks sometime in the future.

Floriana said...

Sean, it's interesting that you find fruit satiating now since I vaguely remember that you wrote about experimenting with not eating fruit and noticing that it made your hunger decrease. I love fruit, though, especially when it's organic, so can't say you are going wrong there. I am looking forward to reading about the new tricks.