He went on to describe his day. Get up, go to work, then head to the gym after work. By the time he gets home in the evening, he said there is less than an hour to make dinner and actually relax. And frankly, he said, he just couldn't keep it up.
Justin and I felt some of this food tension during our Whole30 as well (damn stuffed bell peppers...). When you actually have to plan, prepare, and cook your meals, it can take time to make good (tasting) food that satisfies, and if you're tired from the day's exertions, you really don't want to spend another hour in the kitchen fixing your meal.
And you can kind of end up like this:
Which can lead to this:
IE, you eating anything that is already processed, ready made, quick, easy, nukable, out of a package/box/bag, etc etc and in some cases, lose the ability to know when to stop. So you gorge. On crap.
Bad idea, folks, but it happens to the best of us.
This is why having meal plans already laid out at the beginning of the week (or whenever you have the most time to think, plan, shop, and prep) is essential! And sometimes, having quick go to meals is even more essential.
Take tonight's dinner for example. From start to finish, it took me less than 10 minutes from ingredients to my tummy.
10 minutes?! You must be a superhero!
Nah, I'm just a hungry chick. The menu? Tilapia filets with sauteed spinach, mushrooms, and cherry tomatoes. Yummo. And not to mention, colorful.
And I'd totally show you a picture of my awesome dinner, but again, one hungry chick. It was demolished before I even considered snapping a photo. Oh well. How did I accomplish this mean feat of kitchen cunning?
I used frozen tilapia. I always keep a bag of these in my freezer. They're pretty cheap (about $6 for a big bag). I pop them out and toss them (still individually wrapped) into a bowl of hot water to thaw. Then I pull out two skillets and put some olive oil into each and start heating them up on a reasonably low heat. Then I pull out my cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, and baby spinach, as well as my go to spices (garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, paprika). I halve the cherry tomatoes and slice the mushrooms and toss them into the larger skillet. Sprinkle in the spices (I leave the paprika outta this one). By now the tilapia is thawed, so I slap those puppies into the other skillet and season them (including paprika here - if you like some heat, toss on some Cayenne too). While those start to cook, I put a heaping mound of spinach into the skillet with the other veggies. Everything cooks happily for about 3-4 minutes, until the spinach is wilted and the tilapia has cooked on both sides.
Tada.
No fuss. No muss. No real thought needed. No staring into your pantry or fridge cursing the food gods. My belly is full of good clean whole food. Although the tilapia is not necessarily farmed in the best way, it'll do on a budget.
That all being said, you'll notice the flavor is pretty simple. I'm not a culinary wizard by any means. I'm, again, just hungry. You'll probably want to try different spices, fresh herbs, etc to see what you like, and also to realize your go to's for flavor. I also never add salt to anything, because of Justin's high blood pressure. And for those of you who find yourself still hungry after a meal like this (read: your mind is not satisfied, while your tummy is more than likely full), you might follow up the meal with a banana and some almonds (or nuts of your choice). This should help your sugar craving as well as give you some good fats from the almonds. Don't overdue the nuts, though. I've read that it's best to keep nut intake (giggidy) to about a handful (giggidy) at a time. Feeling fancier? Why not try making banana ice cream? Or if you're feeling frisky for some sex with your pants on - but you're on a Whole30 - you might try one of my favorites, cubing an apple and tossing it with cinnamon, and popping the whole bowl into the microwave for about 15 seconds.
Sex with your pants on. Yep, I said it. For those of you lay folks, I swear I didn't make up this little gem of a term. You can thank the good people of Whole9Life for that one :) Essentially it's a term used to describe the result of 'paleo-ifying' fatty comfort foods like pizza, pancakes, ice cream, brownies... you name it, people will make it. (Not knocking it, the shiz is delicious, but a Whole30 is more about changing your relationship with food and what it means to you, in addition to eating things that are good and clean).
