Feeling ‘Snack-y’? Eat Some Veg!

One of the most common issues that clients have when new to eating Paleo is the tendency to eat too much fruit. 

To clarify, I just recently did a post on eating fruit, and I am NOT of the school of thought that it is something to be avoided.  Read the post for more, but the bottom line is that SOME fruit, eaten as a part of a balanced, Paleo meal is not only 'OK' but suggested.  

Often, clients tell me that that the reason they opt for fruit is nothing more than the fact that it's 'easy'.  Easy to grab a banana to eat on the way to work, easy to grab a package of dried fruit and keep it at work to nibble on and easy to pick up a container of sliced melon to have at your desk for breakfast.

The problem?

Those snacks have no balance because they're nearly completely carbohydrate with no protein.

If you think only in terms of what's easy, you can easily end up having consumed ten servings of fruit in a day and no veg!

This WILL elicit an unfavorable insulin response.

So- prep ahead and fill your fridge, at home and at work, your travel thermal lunch bag or your cooler for the road trip with VEG!

Yes, you need protein and fat, too, and those are also items that you need to have ready to go, which, if you're following the hour in the kitchen suggestion, you're familiar with!

If you're someone who calls themself an 'emotional eater' and you find yourself eating for the wrong reasons, this applies to you even more.  I am NOT suggesting that there is not some work that would need to be done in other realms in that situation- whether it's talk therapy or another modality, BUT, if the only foods you have at your disposal are freshly prepared veggies and lean proteins, you're not nearly as likely to overdo it and cause yourself to gain weight as you would if you were eating ice cream and twinkies.

Make the time in your schedule to go to the store twice per week, pick up lots of fresh veggies, prepare them in a simple way and have them ready to eat at a minute's notice, so they, too are just as 'easy' as grabbing a piece of fruit!