Trading “Healthy” Foods
The other day, I was thinking about how I ate in college, and how different it is from what I eat now. I was very “healthy” in college… meaning I lived off of 100 calorie pack snacks, and low fat Pasta-Roni. From a calorie counting perspective, I was probably doing “better” than I am now. I never ate nuts (too many calories) I avoided anything that didn’t have a nutritional label (how would I be able to tell how many calories were in it?) and I lived off of “light” products (lets replace real food with a bunch of chemicals and try to achieve the same taste!)
I’ve come a long way. And while I still keep things like calories in mind, they’re not what drives my eating habits anymore.
Breakfast
In college, I would have a container of Carbmaster yogurt, with blueberries, and Fiber One cereal. Ok, not that bad, but after comparing the ingredients of the “Carbmaster” yogurt with Chobani… it’s no contest. I don’t need to be filling my breakfast with aspartame. I still love a bowl of yogurt with blueberries, but now I look for plain greek yogurt, and I top it with wholesome granola, rather than “diet” cereals.
Lunch & Snacks
More often than not, I packed a mini whole wheat bagel (ok, not so bad) topped with Better’n Peanut Butter. Oh my gosh I can’t believe I used to eat that stuff! If I try it now, it tastes like plastic.
And of course, I’d wash it all down with a diet coke.
Now I try to pack leftovers from dinner, or I get a salad from the salad bar at work. And no more low-fat-ranch dressing. I literally crave the taste of balsamic vinegar!
Peanut butter isn’t scary. Just because it has a lot of calories doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a place in your diet. And real cookies are so much more satisfying than those little wafers.
Lunches like this are just as easy to make, but are packed with nutrients. Forget those low-calorie-excuses for dressing. Drizzle a little balsamic vinegar + olive oil and you’ve got a simple, tasty dressing.
Dinner
Sometimes my dinners were actually pretty close to what I eat now. Alexa and I often lived off of chickpeas and black beans, (yay for cheap food!) but I also did eat entirely too much Pastaroni. I have no idea why I loved that stuff so much. I’m sure I’d still enjoy it if I tried it today.
I’ve since moved on to bigger and better things. Such as this smoked gouda panini from Ipanema Cafe.
Holy yum. So what if I don’t know the exact nutritional info for this? It was so tasty and filling, I only needed half, and I packed the other half for lunch. Real foods are just so much more satisfying.
I still eat lots of fruits and vegetables, because I’ve always loved those. But I’ve made an effort to eat what I’m really craving, rather than substituting it with some chemical-artificial-substitute. My tummy, and my tastebuds are both happier that way.
What do you think about “diet” foods?
love it! love your comparisons 🙂
we focus on real foods and have been loving it!
I love this! I did okay in college, but my need to have food on the go definitely hurt my food decision making skills! My main problems were too many processed granola bars (etc) during the day, which meant not enough calories during the day, so I ate way too much at night. I also at a lot more pasta than I should have, without checking the calorie count of the dish.
I’m living out of home for the first time (in a new country on the opposite side of the world) and making my own food choices 24/7 is definitely a new experience. I don’t keep any snacky items in the cupboard because I can’t stop at one, but I eat more brown rice and pasta. I would rather have an apple than an apple-flavoured low calorie snack.
That would be hard!! I struggle with snacking too much too! And I agree, real food is way better than “flavored” impostors!
I’m with ya, girl! But for me, it was in high school. I lived off frozen lean cuisines and yoplait lights. I thought it was healthy, but no way. Now I focus on all real foods and I couldn’t feel better 🙂
I feel like I need you to come teach me how to snack right. When I want a snack I just grab whatever is easiest from my refrigerator or cupboard (usually leftovers). Your snacks look much better for me, and a whole lot tastier that cold roasted potatoes.
Okay, so our college foods and foods today are so similar – scary! I’ve thoughout about this before, but what a great idea to actually compare both. It’s amazing how far a lot of us have come over just a few years. I’m not a huge fan of diet foods (i.e., 100 calorie packs) because its still the same crap, just a smaller amount. I’d rather go for the whole foods, which may have more calories, but are better for my health, body and overall well being. Great post!
that panini looks AMAZING!
and i am not a fan of “diet” foods. meaning the “low fat, low carb” advertized stuff. I used to be in that boat though, but I feel like I laerned fast! I actually have a post I’m working on now that should show up soon in regards to that!
diet foods suck. Plain and simple. They taste like garbage, have zero nutrition, and simply just dont cut it for me!! 100 cal pack of anything just makes me want the real thing even more!
During my transition to ‘healthy eating’ I definitely went through a phase where I *thought* I was eating healthy, but I had just replaced processed garbage for even more processed garbage. Aspartame yogurt, 100 cal snack packs, ww bread, splenda sweetened jam, etc. I definitely developed a ‘fear of sugar’, thanks to the media/fitness mags, etc. Now that I have a whole foods approach to eating, I don’t stress about what I’m consuming. When I want a brownie, I eat an *actual* brownie, made with real brownie ingredients, and not some protein powder, stevia or bean concoction. 🙂
Side rant: Things like PB2 & peanut flour have no business replacing peanut butter on a regular basis. No. Just…Stop. Hahahaha
Hahaha I’m so weird, I mix PB2 with regular peanut butter sometimes (particularly when I want a lot of peanut butter hahaha)
At least that stuff isn’t made of chemicals! But “Better’n Peanut Butter” is gross!
I love the idea of doing a college vs. now eating comparison! I also lived off of overly processed ‘health’ foods and was miserable! I’m WAY happier now eating more foods that are real/natural.