Eating habits - then and now

Hey everyone! In today’s post, I’m going to talk about how my eating habits have changed over the past 2-3 years. I am by no means suggesting that this is some kind of diet that everyone should follow. I’m not a nutritionist but I do like to read about food, nutrition and diet; and over the years I have discovered what works for me and my body type and metabolism. My diet is influenced by Rujuta Diwekar’s food and nutrition advice, however in general it’s all based on trying different things that may or may not have worked and changing some eating habits that were clearly not working for me!

I have also written about my fitness journey in a previous post which you may want to read if you’re interested. But here, I’m going to try and focus on my eating habits.

So what was ‘then’ and what is ‘now’:

By ‘then’, I mean about 3-3.5 years ago - I was a new mom, my son was about a year old. It had taken me a while to recover from my pregnancy and child birth and I was still struggling on many fronts. There were so many changes in my life and I was still figuring out my new life and routine. We had moved to Singapore with a 5 month old baby and it was not an easy time. The relocation stress, that constant feeling of being tired all the time, the 24 hour zombie state, snacking on junk food because sometimes there really was no time to cook, zero exercise and eating way more than my body needed.. was basically the order of the day.

And ‘now’, I’m in a much better place mentally. I’ve discovered what works for me broadly, and while I do my best to stick to it, I don’t beat myself up if I don’t. I’m putting myself before a lot of things, I have realised the power of ‘me-time’ and I get some time for myself in the day even if it means placing my son in front of the TV for 20 mins (you gotta do what you gotta do, basically). I don’t care as much about what others might think or say and I have learnt to accept and respect my body. Last but not the least, I have accepted that I cannot be doing textbook ‘healthy’ things on a daily basis. It’s just not realistic. I have chosen ‘sustainable’ over ‘perfectly ideal’. There is an element of flexibility because I have realised that I can no longer be stuck in my ways or be too rigid about what I eat. I do my best, and for me that’s enough. It’s been a journey, and I’m sure I have a long way to go, but this is where I’m at, today.

Portion control:

If there’s one thing that has worked extremely well for me, it is controlling the quantity of food I consume at every given meal. I eat smaller portions, but I eat more frequently in a day. So we’re talking 5-6 smaller ‘meals’ throughout the day. I don’t starve myself, never skip meals, and try not to let myself be famished (if I can help it) because I tend to over-eat if I’m very very hungry. So, how did I reach this stage? I started off by serving myself half of what I would normally eat at that meal. If I needed more, I simply took seconds. This isn't an exact science, but I’m at a place now where I know how much I need and I just serve myself that. Sometimes, I eat in a bowl instead of a plate and that helps. Obviously there’s a lot of trial and error involved and nothing is measured but I eat slowly, and wait for my brain to tell me that I’m sufficiently full, and I stop. There are definitely times when I end up over-eating, especially if it’s my favourite food (I’m only human), but that’s fine as long as it’s not the norm. On most days, I stick to my mantra - Eat before you’re too hungry, stop before you’re too full!

Food finisher, no more:

So you know how sometimes there’s some food left over from a meal - a little bowl of something, a slice of pizza, a few pieces of garlic bread, a tiny portion of pasta, a few spoonfuls of soup etc. etc, that you feel is too little to store in the fridge, or ‘doesn’t make sense’ to keep for the next meal? It happens all the time! There was a time when I used to be the ‘food finisher’ of the house. I was either too lazy to store just a little bit of something in the fridge, or my thought process was, what’s the point, who keeps only this much? I’ll just eat it, one less bowl to wash, and less clutter in the fridge! Sounds familiar?

I also remember the time when my son had started eating solids and we were trying to feed him all sorts of things, I must have easily eaten for 2+ people. He was such a picky eater and there used to be these little portions of food lying around. Now of course I didn’t want to waste food and plus they were such small portions anyway that I thought what difference would it make? Oh yes, but it did make a difference. These small sneaky portions always add up, and there can be no positives of continuing to eat beyond your capacity! Now, if I’m asked to ‘finish’ anything, and I physically can’t, I politely decline. It’s taken me a while to discipline myself, and often people don’t understand where I’m coming from, but this is important to me. Truth is, if you are used to eating a particular amount of food every time, anything extra will make you feel uncomfortable or sick. I’m in no way suggesting that one should waste food, but most food can be safely stored for later use. I have invested in small food savers, bowls and storage boxes to store leftovers in the fridge and I end up eating them the next day as one of my meals (e.g. 4pm tea time slice of pizza is a big hit!)

Be guilt free:

People may not believe me when I say this, but I actually love food. I love trying different cuisines, I love going to restaurants, I absolutely love desserts and Indian street food is my weakness! I remember the time when I used to feel terrible after eating unhealthy food. Filled with remorse, I would subject myself to some really crazy workout routines to over-compensate for my terrible lack of judgement, and basically try and punish myself for having ‘cheated’ on my diet. I’ve come such a long way from that and I’m so glad I did! Now I try not to associate ‘guilt’ with any food. It is such a negative emotion that impacts the way you look at and consume food; that instead of feeling happy and satisfied with what you’ve eaten, you end up feeling upset and angry.

I don’t really believe in ‘cheat’ meals (cheat, again has a very negative emotion attached to it), so I just have small portions of whatever it is I’m craving and enjoy it and move on in life. I don’t skip the next meal, or I don’t feel guilty, and I definitely do not punish myself the next day. I do make sure that I’m getting my regular dose of exercise in the week, and I like to challenge myself in that department, but it is never in response to any unhealthy food I may have consumed.

Never eat directly from a packet:

There was a time when I would eat a bucket full of ice cream, a big pack of crisps, an entire packet of Oreos or a whole bar of chocolate! I’m not even kidding. I am not proud of it, but it’s true. Eating directly from the packet (and having no self control) can lead you to do such things! But now I know better. So I always make it a point to use bowls or plates for eating my meals/snacks. If you’re someone who can control the urge of finishing an entire packet, then that’s awesome, but I really don’t have that in me! Truth is, when it’s a packet of crisps, or junk food in question, my portion control goes out the window and I can’t trust myself to stop when I should! What to do, that’s the reality. So the only way is to use bowls and plates - this way I can control my portions and avoid eating too much junk food. I truly believe that moderation is key when it comes to food, and if you’re not going overboard with anything, or bingeing on any food, then there’s no real need to ban certain foods or food groups from your diet (unless of course you have a medical/health condition or allergy/intolerance)

So what is my current diet?

I turned Pescatarian about 2 years ago, and that was in stages. I was never a big meat eater anyway and always preferred seafood over chicken/lamb. I tried going Vegetarian for a bit, I tried being Vegan as well, but after a lot of experimentation, I’ve discovered that a pescatarian diet really suits me and my lifestyle. Of course, this may change with time, as it should, but for now this works. Majority of my meals are vegetarian and I prefer home cooked food during the week.

This is what a typical day looks like.

I start my day with piping hot tea, followed by breakfast, which is usually some form of egg and multigrain bagel with hummus or nut butter, or cheese sandwich, or something desi (Indian) like poha, upma, dosa, cheela etc. I prefer a hot breakfast, because I’ve grown up eating that - but of course it’s not always possible.

Mid morning, I usually have a smoothie, or a handful of nuts like almonds, pistachios, dates etc. Or I have a coffee and a cookie/piece of teacake.

Lunch typically is either stir fried veggies and a sandwich, or some type of stir fried rice/khichadi or leftovers from the previous night like pasta, roti/curry, or parathas. I also have the occasional Maggi (instant noodles) or frozen ready meals but I try to keep that to one meal per week.

For my post lunch snack I have either a fruit or a handful of dates/cashews, or popcorn, or pita chips with hummus, basically a little something around 4PM teatime when I feel quite peckish. This is typically also the time when I have my quota of ‘junk’ food - the crisps, the fried stuff, the sweet stuff - not everyday, but this is usually the time! That keeps me going until dinner time..

I try not to have a very late dinner, because I don’t like to be very full before sleeping, and if I’m very hungry, I do tend to over-eat. So if I know it’s going to be really late on any given day, I have a snack at 6ish when my son has his dinner. That could be either a bowl of whatever he’s having - like pasta, rice, roti/curry, sweetcorn, etc. or some fruit, or khakra, or something reasonably healthy. There are also days when I have my full dinner with my son at 6pm, but it just depends on the day and what the dinner is. On most days, my dinner time is around 8PM.

Dinner is typically either a curry with roti/rice, biryani, or a baked fish with stir fired veggies and garlic bread, baked vegetables in white sauce, pasta, noodles, dosa with sambhar and chutney, stir fried prawns with pita bread, fish finger sandwich or burger. I love lentils/grains and at least once a week there will be either kidney beans, or chickpea curry, or mixed lentils. Dinner is when we try to have different cuisines - Mexican, Thai, Chinese etc. etc. We have takeaway dinners on most fridays (of course we are in the middle of a pandemic now, so all our meals are homemade, and I hope we can carry on with this to some extent even after things are back to normal!)

Weekends are all over the place of course :) Except for Sunday dinner which we tend to have at home, a lot of our meals are out, because it’s the weekend and it’s always nice to break the monotony!

My day ends with 3/4th cup of warm turmeric milk. I’ve included this in my bedtime routine since the beginning of the year and I strongly believe that it has made a big difference - I sleep better, my skin has improved, and it has a soothing anti-inflammatory effect that helps my aching muscles after a workout. Turmeric is also said to boost immunity, so I hope that’s happening too in the background! We need this now, more than ever before! :)

Weekends are for eating out and trying new restaurants and cuisines

I hope I was able to share my eating habits with you guys and give you a glimpse of what food I eat. It’s the little changes that sometimes make all the difference. It’s in no way perfect, or perfectly healthy and absolutely not the right diet for everyone. I’m not claiming that, but I have tried to make it a sustainable diet for me, and that’s most important. I would like to improve on it - like I want to avoid drinking tea first thing in the morning, I want to have dinner by 7 PM and try and sleep early, or I want to increase the amount of water/liquids I consume, but it’s a process and it’s got to constantly improve. Needless to say, diet and exercise go hand in hand, and you can’t do one without the other to see real benefits.

I would love to hear your thoughts! So comment below, or reach out to me on Instagram @styleiteclectic where I share a lot of my meals and recipes! Stay safe, stay healthy!

xx