I think most people have their go-to shopping list. While I tend to buy the same things over and over again, I have a little rule nn which I can’t eat the same thing twice in a day. In terms of nutritional health, variety is on par with nutrient density and serving size. Fruit can be healthy, but not if the only fruit you eat are apples. Greens can be healthy, but not if it’s only kale. I try to eat a fruit or a veggie with every meal or snack, but it has to be a different fruit or different veggie each time.
If I have a banana at breakfast, my next fruit maybe will be a grapefruit. If I have broccoli, later in the day I’ll have asparagus, then a salad. Etc. etc. Same with fats. If I have fresh mozzarella, then later I may have avocado or a hard-boiled egg, or a handful of nuts. Essentially to simplify life, also because I’m not much of a cook, I tend to stick to whole foods. Or better accurate to say I try to stick to whole foods. That way I don’t have to read ingredient lists or anything like that.
Typical breakfast for me would be scrambled egg whites in lots of oil and a bit of sausage for flavor, with a whole grapefruit and a handful of fresh greens (literally take a few handfuls out of the salad tub and shove it into my mouth). Once in a blue moon (typically a hangover cure), I’ll go out for my favorite breakfast: t bone steak, fried egg white, and a sliced fresh tomato with salt and pepper (eat a fruit when I get home). Not necessarily healthy, but whole ingredients....literally 3, and I stay full until supper.
Brunch might be a whole boiled egg with some microwave bacon (I never claimed to be healthy), or fresh mozzarella and seed crackers....with a fruit and a veg not had at breakfast...so maybe steamed broccoli with a little salt and pepper and a banana.
Lunch, salad with avo and homemade olive oil dressing, or chicken. Or if I had greens for breakfast I might just have a small serving of dinner leftovers with a crudité of cucumber and vinegar chips, radish, celery, and carrots. And a star fruit or guava or (I live near many Asian and Spanish markets and like to include “exotic” fruits that may offer a different nutritional profile).
I usually scavenge for dinner. I live within 5 miles of my parent’s, grandmother, and older sister. They are constantly giving me food, and sometimes I have to freeze it. I’m the youngest and spoiled, so sue me. Sometimes I’ll cook a low-carb meal such as sauerkraut, or salmon and asparagus. Or ham steak with roasted sweet potato from the garden....topped with walnuts it tastes just like sweet potato soufflé...yum! And sweet potato with a bite of ripe avo, tastes like it’s drizzled with butters....mmmmm. Steak once in a while.
So you can see in a day I eat mostly whole foods with the exception of minimal servings of cured meats, and a serving of cheese. I keep it low on refined carbs, not really for health reasons, but I Just like how I feel eating whole ingredient meals (it makes me, umm, regular, with the natural fibers and lack of additives) and how it tastes. And there’s very little cooking involved.
I work from home most days so it is tempting to snack all day. Although I’ve never really been much of a snacker. I hate planning meals so sometimes I’ll just gut load on a little bit of this and that in one large eating binge, then eat once more later in the day. I do this particularly if I wake up hungry, and find that I just can’t stop eating after breakfast. So I’ll just go ahead and consume breakfast and lunch, and I’m usually full until close to dinnertime.That way I don’t have to think or worry about what to eat for lunch. Then I just sip on tea between the two meals. I keep the electric kettle plugged in right at my desk, with a caddie of teas, and instant coffee, And my recent obsession a thermos of lemon grass cuttings from my parents garden, that steeps all day. I don’t drink plain water while at home, and mix up my teas and herbals throughout the day as well. Variety!
After writing this down, I realize I eat a lot of cholesterol. I get blood work each year for insurance incentives and my total cholesterol is always under 180, with an hdl between 90-100 (lowest 92, highest 98). High cholesterol/hypertension/ heart disease runs on both sides of my family, so I always try to eat pectin fiber rich foods anytime I eat animal products or by products. Outside of eating a crap-ton of citrus (at least 2 per day: orange, tangerine, and or grapefruit),I don’t do anything special, or exercise really. Food is medicine and variety and combo is beginning to be believed as more important to health than restrictions. The only issue I struggle with is sugar. I’ve never been outside of normal range, but pretty damn close. I like sweet things.
