Your Inner Badass

When I first started learning about eating healthy I put a large emphasis on what I couldn’t eat.  I learned to avoid refined flours, high fructose corn syrup, trans fats, and vegetable oils. I stopped buying most packaged foods I had regularly bought in the past. I stopped eating at fast food restaurants. I limited my sugar intake and eventually stopped eating grains altogether. I also stopped eating meat and factory farmed fish.  I even gave up corn tortillas! (okay, for the most part)

So what the heck does that leave me with to eat?

I think that this is what intimidates most people when they first start to eat healthier. It seems as though so many of our favorite foods are not so good for us. We tend to focus on how much giving up these foods will suck and how hard that will be. True, there will be some changes in our diets that have to be made in order to really see some changes in our bodies and eventually in our minds and spirits as well. But learning to eat healthy isn’t all bad. In fact, the adventure in learning about new foods and in discovering what you like that actually is healthy as well as tasty, is a part of finding your inner badass.

In my own personal journey in discovering my “inner nutrition badass”, I have discovered many things. I love nuts and nut butters. That dried fruit can kill a sugar craving. I’ve tried a variety of new vegetables in new ways that I’d never before thought that I would enjoy like kale, asparagus, brussels sprouts, and radishes. I’ve learned that I can get my french fry fix by baking sweet potatoes “fries.” That I love coconut in all its many and glorious forms (coconut oil, coconut milk, coconut flakes.) That coconut milk is super creamy and delicious in both sweet and savory ways and that it is more healthy than I previously thought.  I’ve learned that I love dark chocolate more than milk chocolate! I know, I’m shocked, too!

I also have found many new ways to cook and prepare things. Like for instance I now prefer almond milk to cow’s milk and drink it regularly in a coconut flake “cereal” and in smoothies. But being a ingredient list super sleuth I don’t always like what I see (tapioca and rice starch in particular) and anytime you can make your own, well you should. Or at least try to. So I did. Homemade almond milk. It was super easy, especially if you’ve got the right tools which weren’t too hard to find, and delicious. I’ve also made my own nut butters, energy bars, sunflower and sesame seed “crackers” and ice cream. All very delicious and way more nutritious.

So you see, you can instead focus on new foods and recipes to try when finding your inner badass and becoming healthier.

• You can choose a day when you’re less busy and can have a relaxing time in the kitchen to play around and try something new.
• You can become more adventurous in the grocery store or farmer’s market and take a chance on a fruit or vegetable that is new to you and to your taste buds.
• Look up an ingredient online, for there is  surprisingly many wonderful new recipes that will be sure to delight you. If not, well then chalk it up to experience and then try again. For that is what finding your inner badass is all about.