Moderation: Healing Myself with Food
Hi beautiful,
I get questions about how I eat quiet often: am I paleo? Keto? Vegetarian? etc, etc.
Well, I’m none. I love food way too much and I could not live feeling deprived in any way.
I would say I’m more of a “qualitarian”, as in I care about the quality of my food, but other than that I have a very simple goal: I want to eat without stressing out. I really believe food is medicine, but if we’re constantly worrying about it, the negative feelings we create are actually quite detrimental to our health.
I have been on a holistic nutrition journey for over18 years: reading, learning, practicing… all to arrive to a place of MODERATION. The only “rule” I have is: I keep inflammation at bay by staying away from the foods that make me feel yucky.
See, OUR BODIES ARE ALWAYS TALKING TO US, ALWAYS giving us feedback. If we’re listening, they are guiding us towards health. It is what our bodies are designed to do: If we get sleepy after a meal, we ate too much sugar, if we have a yucky feeling in our mouth, we overdid the fat, etc.
I know this, because when I was 26, and in the “best” physical shape, an incredible Holistic Coach, Ximena Gonzalez made me look at what my body was really telling me.
It was screaming for help!
I was thin but had list of gut issues: bloating, gas, mood swings, no energy, etc I was probably on the verge of having leaky gut syndrome.
How could that be? well, take a look at what my diet included:
Chicken fingers from Wendys.
Salads from fast food places.
About 4-6 diet cokes a day. (Seriously)
Honestly, it was bad.
Ximena explained to me that my body needed about 60-70% proteins and fats, 30- 40% low-sugar carbs on my plate and ZERO PROCESSED FOODS.
If anything came in a bag, or a can, a box or a fast food place, I didn’t eat it.
This is what I started eating:
Grass-fed meats
Wild-caught fish
High quality fats (butter, ghee, coconut oil, olive oil)
Leafy greens and low-glycemic veggies.
In a few weeks, this little body of mine started giving me very different feedback:
I felt clear-headed.
My emotions were even (no more up and downs).
I felt nourished.
Physically I felt lighter, the bloating went away and all my tummy issues disappeared.
In short, I had started to heal my gut from all the damage I had done.
So no one has to explain to me the healing power of food, I lived it myself. This (abundant) way of eating got rid of the inflammation in my body and became my anchor for almost two decades.
Since then I have made a few modifications.
HOW I EAT NOW:
My plate is now 60% plants and 40% fats and high quality animal products (The opposite of before)
I added fruits - this was a big no no before as my body really reacts to sugar of any kind. I have added them slowly, mindfully, rotating the type each day.
I eat a variety of carbs including starchy ones like sweet potatoes and plantains.
Why I made these changes?
I changed, I got older. I felt my body needed to support me in different ways, so I listened and made adjustments.
In a nutshell, this is YOUR healing journey, and you have your most important tool… your body, please listen to it. Allow beautiful, delicious food to help you heal inflammation while you enjoy life. You can do it!
It is my wish for you that you find YOUR way to feeling energized and happy.
If you have any questions let me know, I’m more than happy to help if I can.
In reverence of how divine and perfect your body is,
Mary
PS - About alcohol - going back to moderation, I don’t have a hard rule for it. I drink if I feel like having a drink and I don’t if I don’t. Most of the times, I don’t. Also, I don’t drink wines simply because they bloat me, I mostly drink tequila with fresh passion fruit juice (my fave fruit). It seems to be the least inflammatory one for me. If I’m having a drink, I’ll have one or two max (if I have two, I will suffer for days after, btw. Ouch!)