mother nature is a man and other observations..

A great feeling when my niece loves my tips on nutrition. Lovely when you make a difference. A positive influence. We all get that feeling when we want to eat everything that’s not crawling. I remember before I  discovered trigger foods that make you hungrier….. that you can eat all you want of certain very filling and nutritious foods. I remember being hungry and eating a pretzel…..then another…then another. crunchy and salty. Then a handful of surgery cereal and then another handful….granola actually and full of sugar. I might add  being fortunate, I never had a weight problem. The most I ever wanted to lose was 8 pounds, but when you have a very slender and small figure, that’s a lot. I knew after age 50, certain foods were not allowed in the house. Chips, anything fried, all animals for food……I became a pescetarian . A vegan that eats dairy and fish. Someone once told me that nothing tastes as good as feeling thin feels….. I put my own slant on and say nothing tastes as good as feeling healthy feels. Body image is very different for different people. I realized I have to eat several meals a day. This I have been doing for over 50 years. I never realized that health wise, it was something I had to do, having mitral valve prolapse. If you don’t eat several meals a day, you get very anxious. It has to with the  autonomic nervous system. It works for me to always have nuts or dried fruit with me at all times so I’m never hungry.  So, back to what you can eat that is filling and a few tips. Always have on hand in the refrigerator a few of these veggies…….washed and cut up celery, colored peppers, radishes, carrots, string beans, tomatoes,  cucumbers, and super greens. humus is a great snack as well. Especially the ones made with olive oil. Not a combination of various oils. . Water based veggies are filling. When I’m in Virginia, my sister-in-law, the wonderful cook, always has veggies ready to eat. She has jicama, radishes, onions, garlic,  turnips, and every veggie known to man. It’s so much better there, because she has such a variety. If you enjoy dark chocolate, try the darkest, with a few almonds…. I am so used to 95-100% that anything sweeter is too sweet. Speaking of which, I don’t have a sweet tooth, because when I was growing up, we never had pastries for dessert, we had fresh fruit.  I read about nutrition and it seems sugar is the villain. There is sugar in almost everything and the easiest thing to do is read ingredient’s. If I buy canned soups, I buy low sodium and organic. Amy’s are wonderful. I adore good bread and that’s why it’s never in my home. When I go out, that’s my treat. Lots of it with olive oil. For me so much of a treat instead of any dessert. It’s easy to open a can of beans when hungry and add some mustard. Gourmet mustard on celery works.. The more sugar you eat, the more you want to eat. Same goes for carbs. Scandinavian Crisp Bread. GG is not only filling, but very high in fiber. I’m not a nutritionist. I only know you have to eat. And we are what we eat. The older you become, the more you realize that eating is for pleasure, but first and foremost, for nutrition, So when you have hunger pangs, don’t have chips…….. open your refrigerator and see the beautiful array of colorful veggies to satisfy you. Cheers to your good health….