Lets keep it balanced!

Food!!  Whats not to love about it?  I LOVE food.  A good meal can turn my whole day around.  I love meat, dairy, pasta... even sugar, gasp!!  But I also understand the havoc that some of those items will have on my body.  After years of experience with nutrition not only with myself but dozens of different clients, I've learned that the best long lasting approach to nutrition is keeping it balanced while focusing around clean ingredients.  Of course this concept will be different for everyone.  No two people are created equal, and there will have to be tweaks made here and there to find what works best for you, but I think we can all agree that the best nutrition comes from fueling your body with what it needs.  Your body does not NEED sugar, but its nice to have it in your diet every so often.  My goal with this food blog is to share recipes and ideas that will provide a long lasting view on nutrition.  Something that is attainable and sustainable.  I won't be perfect.  Perfection is never a goal of mine, but improvement is.  

Lets take a look on what I mean about "clean" ingredients.  I have posted two different "pasta" dishes.  The above picture is from an amazing restaurant in Charleston, SC called Poogan's Porch. If you've never been to Charleston, I highly recommend it!  It is the most charming little city with history and beauty on every corner and one of the top culinary scenes in the country.  This dish was an explosion of flavors.  It was perfection.  You're looking at pan roasted scallops with pimiento cheese ravioli, creamed corn, and a roasted red pepper vinaigrette.  Yeah, I know.  AMAZING!!  I loved every bite of this meal.  My body, on the other hand, would tell you a different story.  It left me feeling sluggish and bloated, all due to the delicious but not so optimal ingredients.  I love me some dairy and pasta, but I know the outcome.  FOOD COMA.  And thats not the way I want to feel everyday, and I certainly do not want to get used to feeling like that everyday.

Now lets look at the second dish.  Its not as pretty.  I snapped a quick pic of this months ago in some bad lighting in my apartment.  This is one of my versions of a healthified spaghetti and meatballs.  The noodles are zucchini and the meatballs are grass fed ground beef formed with flaxseed versus breadcrumbs.  It did not have the creamy richness of the pimiento ravioli, but still delicious and left me with a ton of energy versus that awful food coma.  

Two delicious meals, but two different outcomes.  Now Im not saying that I will never eat that pimiento ravioli again.  If I am in Charleston again, I most definitely will, or something very similar to it!  Everyone's view point on nutrition and what is enjoyable is different, but I personally believe in not restricting myself 100% of the time.  I believe in that "balance" I was talking about in the beginning of this post.  Other's view on enjoying life may include being 100% perfect with nutrition 100% of that time, and that is perfectly fine, but that is not me.  I will focus on healthy nutrition the majority of the time, but allow myself to enjoy the foods I love every so often, and then get right back on that train of self-improvement.  And that for me, is how I keep it balanced.  

If if you'd like help reaching your goals through nutrition, check out one of my nutrition programs!!